The chief Senate prober on the e-sabong controversy said the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs will still release a report even after President Duterte ordered a stop to all operations on online cockfight betting, a multibillion-peso trade.
THE chief Senate prober on the e-sabong controversy said the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs will still release a report even after President Duterte ordered a stop to all operations on online cockfight betting, a multibillion-peso trade.Meanwhile, Senator Francis Tolentino said a new law will still be needed before any decision is made to allow e-sabong to resume, if ever.
Initially, dela Rosa indicated committee probers are poised to recommend stricter e-sabong regulations limiting its operations only during Sunday and holidays, to end its current 24-hour and daily operations. Before President Duterte conveyed his order to stop e-sabong, senators have been seeking its suspension since March while investigating the apparent abductions of the still missing cockfight aficionados.
Tolentino recalled that in its nearly two years of operation, e-sabong ran even without an enabling law, with only a legal opinion from the DOJ and the Solicitor General saying e-sabong can be regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. The bills granting a legislative franchise as sought by e-sabong operators, are pending with the House and the Senate; and this is expected to be the main avenue for legalizing e-sabong. However, senators are not expected to act on this anytime soon, since majority of them had opposed e-sabong, and because the 18th Congress is set to close on June 4 anyway.