Many families will go bankrupt if Congress will continue to ignore warnings aired by various groups against the grant of legislative franchises to firms operating e-sabong betting in the country.

Former House Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano aired this misgiving over the impending passage of legislative franchise bills of two e-sabong firms in Congress.

One of the bills is now pending in the Senate while the other has been set for approval in the Lower House. t

Cayetano joined House Deputy Speaker and CIBAC Partylist Rep. Bro. Eddie Villanueva in appealing to their colleagues to junk the two bills that would legalize online cockfighting.

The former House leader urged lawmakers not to take part in legalizing vice activities that “will only cause more social and economic problems than solutions for the country.” Earlier, Villanueva urged Filipino voters, particularly his followers, to deny e-sabong supporters among 2022 candidates their votes.

“Addressing the problems of smuggling and tax evasion, for example, will surely beef up government resources. I fear that legitimizing e-sabong for the reason of raising public funds is just a front and a lame excuse for accommodating the greed of its operators – at the expense of siphoning hard-earned money of the Filipino people,” the evangelist-turned-lawmaker said.

Cayetano has issued a strong appeal to the House leadership to allow plenary discussions on House Bill 10199 proposing to grant a 25-year legislative franchise to the Lucky 8 Star Quest, pointing out that there serious issues involving public morals that should be debated on.

However, Cayetano’s appeal fell on deaf ears as the Lower House approved the bill last September 20.

There were 28 principal authors of the bill, that included Deputy Speakers DV Savellano and Conrado Estrella; former Deputy Speaker Luis Villafuerte; Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano, Asst. Minority Leaders Stella Luz Quimbo and France Castro and Reps. Joey Sarte Salceda and Sharon Garin, chairpersons of the House Committees on Ways and Means and on Economic Affairs, respectively.

Last Monday, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved House Bill No. 10204 which aims to grant Visayas Cockers Club, Inc. a 25-year franchise to operate off-site betting stations anywhere in the country.

“The economy may rake in millions from e-sabong now, but at what cost? Many families will go bankrupt, and this will lead to a host of other problems,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano stressed that the revenue being generated by digital cockfighting is not worth the lives of the youth and the “destruction of our society’s moral fiber.” “What our people need are jobs and livelihood opportunities, not encouragement to waste what little money they have left, fall into massive debts, and destroy their families,” he said.

Cayetano cited the case of Erick John Suelto, a 19-year-old student in Maco, Davao de Oro who was arrested on November 3, 2021 for failing to pay off his debt from e-sabong amounting to P561,000.

“Let’s not wait for more people to get addicted to gambling and fall into debt. Let’s protect our fellow Filipinos, especially our youth,” he said.