PNP CHIEF Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. yesterday said operations of “e-sabong” or virtual cockfighting games continue to flourish more than seven months after former President Duterte ordered a stop to the online sports.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, Azurin said he has directed the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and other police units to intensify efforts to end e-sabong.
“Remember when the President stopped all e-sabong activities?” Azurin said, referring to the shutdown order last May of Duterte, who cited the ill-effects of the gambling recreation to families.
“We’ve monitored that there are still guerrilla e-sabong operators still engaged in e-sabong up to now,” Azurin also said, adding that he has received reports from police attachés that Filipinos abroad are also hooked on e-sabong.
“My directive to all the units, regional directors, provincial directors, including the CIDG and IG (Intelligence Group) is to help each other to locate e-sabong operators. They should put a stop (to e-sabong) because it’s not only our countrymen (in the Philippines) who are victimized (but) even those abroad. I learned from our police attachés that our countrymen (abroad) are also hooked on e-sabong…This means that the addiction to e-sabong has become international,” the police chief said.
Azurin said e-sabong only drives people to indebtedness, which he said could lead to the commission of crimes.
Azurin said even members of the PNP and the AFP have not been spared from e-sabong, noting reports that policemen and soldiers are also addicted to online cockfighting.
Meanwhile, Azurin said the PNP continues to exert efforts to locate the 34 “sabungeros” or cockfight enthusiasts who have remained missing after they were abducted in various cockfighting areas this year and last year.
“As of now, we cannot confirm if there are proof of life… We expect for the worse but definitely, whatever happened to them, we will pursue justice for the victims,” said Azurin.
The PNP has filed charges against 14 suspects, including five policemen, and several other John Does allegedly involved in the kidnapping of the missing sabungeros.
