Cockfighting is the scourge of the Philippines. Billions are wasted every year on raising fighting cocks. Land which could be used for more productive purposes is devoted to housing these birds. Due to the nature of gambling cockfighting attracts criminals and breeds crime. Recently the Senate held hearings concerning the more then 30 sabungeros or cockfighters who have disappeared over the past few months. They have probably been murdered over gambling debts.
Debt is a natural byproduct of cockfighting. People lay wager after wager and lose big. One lady owed P45,000 in gambling debts. Of course she paid that debt off the only way she knew how, by selling her baby.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/familyandrelationships/825588/woman-sells-her-9-month-old-baby-to-pay-for-e-sabong-debt/story/ |
A woman sold her nine-month-old baby for P45,000 to pay for the debt she incurred while betting on e-sabong and for other living expenses.
According to “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho,” the woman, “Carla,” served as an agent of online sabong for extra income but she eventually got hooked into placing her own bets.
It reached a point where she was unable to pay the money she borrowed, so she thought about selling one of her kidneys.
[“Someone posted about buying kidneys, I commented. They offered 1.5 [million]. The 500,000 will go to the agent and I will receive the P1 million. But it didn’t go through.”]
Where was she looking online for selling kidneys? Facebook? Is it safe to say that cockfighting debts plays a role in the blackmarket organ trade?
As the lenders kept asking for their money back, Carla became stressed and felt cornered. She couldn’t think of any other way to get some cash, so she thought about selling her own baby.
She posted about it in a closed group online, where she eventually met a buyer who initially offered P20,000.
[“I said I have another buyer who has a bigger offer. [We negotiated] up to 45,000. [The buyer said] that they will make the adoption legal and hire a lawyer.”]
Asked whether she had second thoughts about pushing through with the transaction, Carla said doubts did cross her mind. But she couldn’t think of anything else to do.
Who did this lady borrow money from in order to gamble? Obviously it was not from a bank. Doubtful it was from a legal private lender. More likely it was from a 5-6 lender which is 100% illegal. Is it safe to say that cockfighting plays a role in the blackmarket lending economy?
Pretty sad that this lady could think of no better way to pay her debt than to sell her baby.
She went to a fast food restaurant in Quezon City and met with someone, but it was not the person she spoke to online.
[“She was not wearing a face mask. She has light skin, slightly chubby, small eyes, and a tall nose. She had me sign something so I would not ask for my child back.”]
The baby was sleeping when Carla handed her over. After the transaction, however, the mother had a change of heart.
[“After I hailed a taxi, I sent a chat to the buyer, asking for my child back. I told her that I will return the money. But she had already blocked me.”]
Carla used P7,000 of the money she received to buy a cellphone. She then paid for her debt and gave P30,000 to her aunt for safekeeping.
Some change of heart. Seems it was not enough of a change of heart to not use the money. The money does not add up either. If her debt was P45,000 then she spent P82,000. But she said she negotiated to P45,000. The numbers don't add up but that is the least of the problems with this story.
She left her live-in partner, “Ben,” in the dark about the transaction. She made an excuse about leaving their baby with her mother, and then said she bought the phone for P2,000 from a friend. She also deleted her chat messages with the buyer.
Ben felt something was off about Carla’s excuses. When he asked her to video call her mother so he could see their child, she burst into tears and confessed everything.
After learning the truth, it was Ben’s turn to break down.
[“I cried. I asked her, ‘Why did you do that?’ I couldn’t accept it. I told her, ‘You might be the only woman who would do that to her own child!’”]
This lady is stupid. Stupid beyond belief. Did she really think her boyfriend would never find out? Did she really think she could just sell her baby and no one would care?
The NBI got on the case right away and in just a little over a week they found the baby.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1572342/nbi-rescues-baby-sold-by-mother-to-pay-off-debt |
An 8-month-old baby girl was rescued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Laguna after being sold by her mother to pay off her debt.
The baby’s father said his daughter was rescued by NBI operatives in Laguna on Tuesday after they received information that the child was in Calamba City.
(We went there and we saw the house. We tailed the vehicle that left the house.)
(We followed the vehicle that left the house of those who took my child until we reached Sta. Cruz, Laguna. We cornered the woman when he alighted the vehicle to buy fruits, then we saw my daughter.)
The baby is currently in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, according to her father.
He said the DSWD has promised to later return the baby to him.
Earlier reports said that the baby’s mother pleaded for help to recover her daughter after she regretted having sold the baby for P45,000 to pay off her e-sabong (online cockfighting) debt.
But in her Teleradyo interview, she said her debt was not because of e-sabong and that she only owes P10,000.
“(I had a debt but it was not due to e-sabong),” she said.
However, she admitted to having participated in online cockfighting.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1170339 |
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1170051 |
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Thursday said e-sabong or online cockfighting in the country contributes to revenue that can be used to fund the government’s Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
In a speech in Palo, Leyte, Duterte reiterated that the government has earned over PHP640 million monthly since January from the online gambling activity.
“E-sabong gives the government PHP642 million a month. In one year, it gives the government billions,” he said.
Aside from providing funding for hospitals and medicine, he said revenues generated from e-sabong can also be used for education and infrastructure.
Duterte said temporarily closing down the businesses of operators without any violations would be unfair.
“It's not the fault of the management...it's the fault of evil men doing something wrong,” he added.
The Philippines needs to end cockfighting. The civilized world long ago outlawed animal fighting. The Philippines may think they are in the modern world with all the Western comforts of tennis shoes, McDonald's, and the internet but that is just a sheen to cover the truth. The truth is that the Philippines remains backwards and there is no better symbol of that than the fighting cock strutting his stuff over the internet. It's like using a fridge for tool storage.
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