ILOILO CITY – Game fowl breeders have expressed alarm over the theft of fighting cocks worth millions of pesos in Panay Island.
“This is a growing concern,” said Ricardo “Ricoy” Palmares, president of Panay Game fowl.
Palmares said in a phone interview on Thursday, Feb. 16, that there is likelihood that a series of thefts recently are syndicated.
One of the most recent incident was on Tuesday, Feb. 7, when 15 fighting cocks worth P1.4 million were carted away in the farm owned by AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Lex Colada in Guimbal town, Iloilo province.
The Guimbal police were able to recover a brood cock in Tapaz town, Capiz province in a follow-up investigation.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, Merland Bluma voluntarily surrendered five fighting cocks stolen in Colada’s farm to Senior Master Sgt. Noe Gallenero of the Tapaz police.
Bluma told investigators that these were taken away by his older brother Ronald.
Aside from Colada, the fighting cocks of a high-profile personality were also stolen in his farm in Barotac Viejo town in Iloilo.
Palmares said these incidents only show that thieves are daring when they steal fighting cocks from specific targets.
He urged police across Panay Island to beef up their work and stop this crime as the negative impact financially to small and big game fowl breeders is huge.
Stolen fighting cocks are believed to be sold in other parts of Panay Island as well as Cebu.