Senators took turns during a hearing on Friday, March 4, criticizing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) after its chairperson, Andrea Domingo, refused to follow a Senate resolution suspending the operations of “e-sabong” or online cockfighting.
The second hybrid hearing of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs was held to investigate the mysterious disappearance of 31 “sabong” and “e-sabong” afficionados.
Domingo nixed the immediate suspension of e-sabong operations, pointing out that Pagcor might be liable for the suspension if it is done without legal basis. She said the agency also needs to get the permission from Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to suspend e-sabong operations.
But Sen. Franklin M. Drilon said he saw no legal basis on why Pagcor needs the permission from Malacanang. He reminded Domingo that the authority of the gaming body to issue licenses to gambling operators includes the power to revoke and suspend licenses without needing the permission of the Office of the President.
“My proposition and my belief… since you issued the license without seeking a specific authority from Malacañang, that inherent power to grant the license is the power to suspend without needing the clearance from Malacañang. That is why I find legally no basis for the position of the Chair of Pagcor that they need the license of Malacañang to suspend Pagcor when in fact they issued the license without Malacañang’s authority,” Drilon said.
Sen. Grace Poe, on the other hand, said Pagcor appears to be deliberately delaying the suspension of e-sabong operations even as she noted that temporarily suspending the licenses of e-sabong operators is well within the agency’s mandate.
“There is nothing in Pagcor’s charter requiring them to seek authorization from the President for any action to proceed,” Poe said, citing Presidential Decree No. 1869, as amended by Republic Act No. 9487.
She also recalled that as former chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, they did not wait for presidential approval for sanctions on violations.
“Suspending the e-sabong licenses is pursuant to its mandate of minimizing, if not eradicating, the evils, malpractices and corruptions associated in gambling,” Poe said. “I believe Pagcor is using the President as an excuse to delay that decision.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the original proponent of the suspension resolution, said the chamber is merely urging the Pagcor to suspend – not to recall or rescind — e-sabong operations.
“The position of the Senate is strongly urging you to join the investigation. Suspend first, cease orders, that’s what we said. What you said is that you don’t want to,” Sotto said, adding the problem of the missing persons linked to sabong and e-sabong has been brewing since last year.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, chairman of the committee, appealed to Domingo to heed the call of the Senate.
“You have the responsibility over Pagcor. You regulate ‘e-sabong’ and we have a problem with ‘e-sabong’, so we are expecting that you do your job,” Dela Rosa said.
During the hearing, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III also asked Domingo whether the agency had “lifted a finger” and gathered information when news of alleged online e-sabong-related disappearances started to come out.
Pimentel also wondered why Pagcor lawyers did not see the lack of CCTV system and the failure to cooperate with law enforcement investigation as grounds to suspend the license-contracts of e-sabong operators.
In response, Domingo referred to the legal opinion stating that local government units, operators, and arena owners are responsible for the cockpits.
She also stressed the “difficult” situation the agency is trying to avoid such as lawsuits and unfavorable Commission on Audit assessment if they suspend licenses without legal basis.
But Pimentel retorted: “It’s really hard for Pagcor, but you are compensated well for a difficult job.” He added that the agency could have used the P75 million license fee to perform its function as regulator.
Sen. Francis Tolentino, for his part, took a swipe on Pagcor and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for supposedly usurping the authority of Congress over e-sabong operations in the country.
According to Tolentino, the current e-sabong fiasco should be blamed on the DOJ’s ‘erroneous interpretation of the law’ following a separate legal opinion issued by the agency on January 28, 2021, and became the basis of Pagcor for issuing licenses to e-sabong operators.
Tolentino stressed that not a single provision stated under Presidential Decree No. 1869 and as amended by Republic Act No. 9487 which empowered Pagcor to unilaterally takeover the licensing authority over online cockfighting.
“The law is what is written. Kung hindi ‘yun nakasulat doon, hindi ‘yun batas. Ang pwede lang po gumawa ng batas, Kongreso… hindi po DOJ,” said Tolentino during the Senate inquiry.
Tolentino further got irked when chief state counsel George Ortha insisted that the DOJ ‘being the Attorney General’ can have its own interpretation of the law, just like what they did after issuing a separate legal opinion and is now being used by Pagcor in granting e-sabong permits.
Tolentino explained that the legal opinion issued by DOJ which became the ground of Pagcor in issuing e-sabong licenses “is a direct usurpation of legislative powers” under Article 239 of the Revised Penal Code, noting that Congress has the sole authority over franchises.
“Don’t skew your interpretation that (will) make us believe that (what) you are saying is canonical now,” he added.
Aside from DOJ, the Office of the Solicitor General also issued a separate opinion in May 2018 that helped empowered Pagcor and enable them solely to control the issuance of permits in the e-sabong industry.
The senator reiterated his last week’s statement, in which he explained that e-sabong is not included in the jurisdiction of Pagcor under PD 1869 and RA 9487.
Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, meanwhile, urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to thoroughly explain to the families of the reported missing sabongeros the criminal procedures that authorities follow under the Rules of Court to assure them that law enforcers are doing their work to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Lacson asked PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director Eliseo Dela Cruz whether the police is ready to file cases against those behind the disappearance of 34 individuals due to e-sabong before the Prosecutors’ Office.
Dela Cruz reported that they are ready to file kidnapping with serious illegal detention cases against six identified persons in the Manila Arena incident.
Explaining the police procedures, Lacson pointed out that authorities need to wait first for the court to issue a warrant of arrest before they can arrest the suspects. In the meantime, Lacson said the PNP will be filing the case before the Prosecutors’ Office and let the preliminary investigation proceed.
“The family might think that the PNP is not doing anything because you are not authorized under the law, under the Rules of Court to conduct arrest at this point in time so that this will be clear to the families. So, immediately, you are telling us, you are filing cases against people that are positively and properly identified,” Lacson said.
