Unite vs online gambling, public urged
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FORMER Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano has pivoted to the public in a bid against the legalization of e-sabong and other forms of online gambling.
“Parents, teachers, priests, pastors, ministers, imams: we have to speak up so that we can stop the spread of vices that threaten to destroy our values,” Cayetano said.
According to the senior lawmaker, e-sabong and other forms of online gambling are difficult to regulate unlike off-line or “physical” gambling.
“Pastimes are personal choices; be it going to casinos or playing tong-its [3-player rummy card game] or betting in cockfighting,” Cayetano said. “My point is that whether you do it at home or in a casino or a cockfighting arena, there are regulations. If we allow online gambling, imagine, your children could easily access these vices at school. You could access these vices at work.”
Citing the social ills that come with online gambling, Cayetano said he is optimistic the public will resist efforts to promote and legalize these vices.
“I’m hoping that we come to a realization as a people that there are things that we should really prohibit,” he added.
In September, the House of Representatives approved on third-and-final reading a bill that would grant a 25-year legislative franchise to the e-sabong outlet-operator Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc.
Shortly after, the House Ways and Means panel approved a bill seeking to grant the Visayas Cockers Club Inc. a similar legislative franchise.
In the Senate, however, Cayetano found allies against e-sabong as Sen. Mary Grace Natividad S. Poe, chairman of the Committee on Public Service, last week suspended the hearing on granting a 25-year franchise to Lucky 8 Star Quest.
Poe said she was inclined to have the bill go through a technical working group that will examine not just the operations but the social ills the game creates.
