DBM's Pangandaman iffy on e-sabong revival

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Wednesday expressed reservations on the possibility of reviving e-sabong or online cockfight betting operations, saying that potential revenues from it were not considered in next year’s fiscal program.

“We have a meeting this month with the economic team, maybe I can include it as part of our agenda,” Pangandaman said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum.

The Budget chief was asked for her stance on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s (PAGCOR) earlier pronouncement that it is considering reviving e-sabong with a better set of framework and regulations.

“E-sabong is not part of the [fiscal] assumptions in next year’s budget so… I don’t think it’s necessary for next year,” she said.

“I don’t know the numbers. I have yet to see the numbers… [but] it’s not in the assumption for the 2025 budget,” she added.

PAGCOR earlier said it generated P6.2 billion worth of e-sabong revenues from April 2021 to April 2022 alone.

Then-President Rodrigo Duterte stopped e-sabong operations in May 2022  following the sudden disappearance of dozens of persons involved in the industry.

Duterte also later apologized for allowing e-sabong operations that resulted in bettors finding themselves in heavy debt and cockfight enthusiasts getting abducted.

E-sabong hit the headlines in 2022 following the disappearance of dozens of people involved in the industry. The cases of missing sabungeros have yet to be resolved two years later.

PAGCOR has said that online sabong operations continue despite the ban put in place by the previous administration. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News