Marcos opposes revival of e-sabong, plan to spare 12 Pogos from ban

Sen. Imee Marcos (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

LUCENA CITY – Senator Imee Marcos has opposed the proposed revival of e-sabong, or online cockfighting, in the country and the plan to spare 12 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) from the ban.

“I was really surprised. E-sabong is gone. Pogo is gone, and suddenly there’s remote sabong again. We need to stop this,” Marcos told journalists here at the Quezon Convention Center where she was guest of honor at the first Quezon Coconut Lambanog Summit on Wednesday.

She clarified that she is not against gambling because “the government earns from it.”

“The problem is, just like with e-sabong, we can’t regulate this Pogo properly,” she explained. “We can’t monitor, supervise, or apprehend them. If we can’t handle it and it will only cause headaches with all the syndicates and numerous crimes involved, then we should put a stop to it for now.”

“I heard that Pogo now goes by a different name, IGL (Internet Gaming Licensee). And there are claims that we should rescue the 12 biggest ones first because 42,000 jobs will be lost.”

“There are so many reasons. Just follow the President. He said during the Sona (State of the Nation Address) to stop it,” she added.

In his third Sona last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered to ban all Pogos in the country.

However, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) has requested that 12 Pogos be spared from the nationwide ban.

During the House committee on appropriations’ hearing on Pagcor’s proposed budget for 2025, OFW party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino asked Pagcor Chair Alejandro Tengco whether it was possible to legalize e-sabong to help the agency continue to generate revenues amid the Pogo ban.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte banned E-sabong in May 2022 following the disappearance of 30 cockfight enthusiasts involved in e-sabong. President Marcos formalized the ban in December 2022.

Pagcor estimated that the government stood to lose P7 billion to P7.5 billion in revenues from the blanket Pogo ban.