Leni: Money from e-sabong not worth lives destroyed

Vice President and presidential bet Leni Robredo on Friday said e-sabong or online cockfighting operations should be suspended as soon as possible amid reports of a number of its patrons going bankrupt and living a dangerous life.

Robredo cites reports of sabungeros getting kidnapped,suicide, children getting hooked into gambling, family conflict, OFWs using up their savings, among others, due to unpaid debt or e-sabong expenses.

"Paniniwala ko talaga, kailangang isuspend na ito at the soonest possible time. Maimbestigahan kung itutuloy ito in the future, ano ba 'yung safeguards na hindi mangyayari 'yung mga nangyayari ngayon," Robredo said during the One News and Go Negosyo forum Kandidatalks.

(I am convinced this should be stopped as soon as possible. We should likewise probe if we will continue this, are there enough safeguards to prevent what is happening right now?)

President Rodrigo Duterte has said that incidents of missing sabungeros had nothing to do with e-sabong operations which yield billions of revenues to the government.

Robredo, however, argued that huge government revenues won't be worth it if this would result in broken lives, if not families.

"Worth ba 'yun ng perang nakukuha ng pamahalaan? Para sa akin, hindi eh. Para sa akin, pinaka mahalaga na 'yung pag pangangalaga sa– hindi lang sa morality ng Pilipino pero pangangalaga sa kapakanan ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino 'yung inaasikaso natin," she said.

(Are the government revenues out if it worth it? For me, it isn't. The most important here is that we should take care of our people, not only concerning morality but their welfare too.)

"Hindi worth ng kahit anong laki ng government revenue kung ang kapalit nito pagkasira ng ordinaryong Pilipino," she added.

(A huge government revenue will never be worth it if it would mean destruction of lives.) —NB, GMA News