Whether you’re in the smallest village or the biggest urban area in the Philippines, you will find ready access to cockfight wagering. While in-person cockfighting has long been an accepted part of life in the Philippines, online cockfighting is not finding the islands to be quite as welcoming.
According to a recent report from CruxNow.com, Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga is calling on government gambling regulators to enact a ban on online cockfighting and its associated wagering.
Though cockfighting supporters have suggested that online cockfighting is the way to go in the age of COVID-19 and its associated social distancing practices. The good bishop, however, disagrees with that sentiment saying, “What we need in this time COVID-19 is spiritual recovery, moral ascendancy, not promotion of vices and proliferation of any form of gambling.”
Bishop Santos put out in any thought of a personal conversion to the qualities of online cockfight wagering adding, “What we need in this time COVID-19 is spiritual recovery, moral ascendancy, not promotion of vices and proliferation of any form of gambling.”
And while the cockfighting pit (arena) is the center of social interactions in plenty of communities across the Philippines, Bishop Santos does not see this as a good thing. “A cockpit is a venue for propagating a vice, not a service to the community. That cockpit will never build up our people, but will only break up our community. It will never be a source of blessing to our town. On the contrary, it will lead us to poverty and much suffering.”
But given the potential revenue from regulated online cockfight wagering, it’s unlikely that the government of authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte will pay much attention to Bishop Santos anyways.