Online cockfighting appears to be on the fast track to legalization and regulation in the Philippines, but it was bound to have some push back. Although legislators are making the first steps to making the activity safer and easier to tax, the Catholic Church has now come out against the activity, while local authorities continue to make arrests.

The Bishop of Balanga, Ruperto Santos, has come out against online cockfighting, locally known as e-sabong. “What we need in this time COVID-19 is spiritual recovery, moral ascendancy, not promotion of vices and proliferation of any form of gambling,” he said in a November 24 interview. “This online sabong will never be blessing to our country, as it will only be source of problems in the community and division in the family.”

If it was up to him, legislators would “enact laws which will serve our people and save our country, not because of money nor to satisfy one’s addiction.”

Bishop Santos opposed to construction of a cockpit in his own Bataan province, just across the bay from Manila. “It is such a disgrace and very disappointing to know that in this critical time of the coronavirus pandemic, there are people who are planning to construct a cockpit in Barangay Imelda in Samal,” he said in October. “Will that cockpit help our people, especially in the middle of a pandemic when people are even struggling to put food on their tables? Absolutely not.”