Senate Resolution No. 996, expresses the sense of the Senate to strongly urge the PAGCOR to suspend the license to operate of “e-sabong” operators and to immediately stop all activities related to it until the cases of the missing cockfighters have been resolved
The resolution was signed by Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee chief Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and 22 other senators.
Last week, Dela Rosa launched the panel’s initial probe into the matter with PAGCOR officials and Philippine National Police (PNP) officers attending the investigation.
The resolution covers “e-sabong” operations of Belvedere Vista Corporation, Lucky 8 Star Quest, Inc., Visayas Cockers Club, Inc., Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies, Inc., Newin Cockers Alliance Gaming Corporation, Philippine Cockfighting International Inc., and Golden Buzzer, Inc., all of which are currently licensed by the state gaming regulatory agency.
According to Dela Rosa, he raised the issue with President Duterte, who in turn gave the impression that he supports the resolution.
“Per my short conversation with the President at the wedding of his grandson in Davao City yesterday, I got the impression that he supports the Senate resolution urging PAGCOR to suspend the license to operate of ‘E-Sabong operators’,” Dela Rosa said.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and President Duterte. (From Facebook)
The issuance of the resolution was initially approved last February 24 by the Senate public order panel after Senate President Vicente Sotto III proposed that a Senate resolution be issued to urge PAGCOR to suspend the licenses issued to the seven online cockfight operators “until there is an acceptable conclusion to what happened to the missing personalities involved in the online cockfighting.”
Dela Rosa, a former national police chief, has repeatedly expressed his belief that those behind the abductions were trained and organized groups.
The lawmaker has scheduled the next hearing on the controversy on Friday, March 4 and is expecting that representatives from the online cockfight companies and the alleged witnesses in the abduction to be present in the Senate probe.
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