PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. on Monday said their crackdown against e-sabong (online cockfighting) will continue to be “unrelenting” this year even as he called on the public to stop patronizing the banned online game.

The top cop said that they are vigorously implementing Executive Order (EO) No. 9 issued by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., which ordered the continued suspension of e-sabong activities nationwide.

Azurin said that ahead of the grand “Sinulog” festival in Cebu over the weekend, agents of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 7 under Brigadier Gen. Romeo M. Caramat Jr. arrested 17 persons in Barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City last Friday (January 13) afternoon while in the act of engaging in illegal cockfighting games which was streamed live thru mobile phone apps.

Last week also in Cebu, another suspected e-sabong operator was arrested in Bgy. Bugho in San Fernando, Cebu, by operatives of the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU) 7 under Brig. Gen. Joel B. Doria and the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 headed by Brig. Gen. Jerry F. Bearis.

The top PNP official said that seven other suspects involved in that e-sabong operation eluded arrest and are still being hunted.

The arresting team seized various electronic equipment used in the live streaming of cockfight games and cash bets.

Azurin said that Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” C. Abalos Jr. had formed a multi-agency to enforce the presidential directive.

He explained that although police are on the enforcement side, it still needs the help of the Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and the barangay officials to identify operators of the banned online game.

“We need the help of the ICT experts since hindi to normal na ‘sabong’ o ‘tupada.’ Me ginagamit na technology dito and the DITC and the NTC should help so we can identify the operators para matigil na to. No less than the President is alarmed on the existence of these e-sabong, wala na kasing pinipili na tumataya because of technology. Lahat puwede nang tumaya unlike sa sabong na bawal pumasok sa cockpit arenas ang mga minors,” he said.

Azurin said people should stop patronizing e-sabong since they would only become “poorer and help their operators become richer.”

Last January 9, RACU 7 and PRO7 operatives raided a cockpit joint in San Fernando, Cebu where around 200 cockfighting games broadcast live via Facebook are being held daily.

Bearis said that the raid led to the arrest of an employee of the banned games in San Fernando municipality, a 23-year-old resident of Bgy. Lagtang in Talisay City, Cebu.

He said that the suspect was arrested in an entrapment operation in the mountainous part of Bgy. Bugho in San Fernando municipality.

During the investigation, the suspect confessed that their online cockfighting or e-sabong starts at 5 in the morning and ends at the dawn of the following day.

The suspect said they hold at least 200 cockfights every day with him tasked to hold the fighting cock while being fitted with “tari” or a cockfighting blade by a “gaffer” which is an expert in the art of arming fighting cocks with gaff or gaffs on either or both legs.

In a report to Azurin, the PRO 7 director said that members of the RACU 7, the PRO 7 Regional Intelligence Division and Regional Mobile Force Battalion, the Cebu Provincial Police Office, and the San Fernando Municipal Police Station conducted the anti-illegal gambling operation.

However, seven other suspects managed to escape after sensing the presence of the approaching lawmen, Bearis said.

Recovered during the operation were Information and Communications Technology (ICT) equipment such as cameras, sets of system units, 28 dead fighting cocks, 28 severely wounded roosters, assorted identification cards, several gaffs and ties, and P528 in different denominations.

Bearis said he had ordered a thorough investigation to identify the persons behind the operations of the raided e-sabong joint.

“Alinsunod sa direktiba ni SILG Atty. Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos, Jr. ukol sa illegal cockpit operations at e-Sabong, mas pinapaiigting po nang ating mga kapulisan ang pagsugpo ng mga lumalaganap na ilegal na pagsusugal online o e-sabong at mas mapapadali po namin ito sa pamamagitan ng patuloy na pagsuporta nang ating komunidad laban sa illegal gambling,” he said.

The official also thanked the PNP-ACG headed by Brig. Gen. Joel B. Doria for its continuing support of their all-out effort to stop all illegal online sabong operations in the region.