The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) strongly opposes any move to revive the online cockfighting operations, known as E-Sabong, as a substitute for the now-banned POGO operations.
The country’s largest labor center TUCP, representing hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers and their families across different sectors and industries, reminds all of the grave social costs caused by E-Sabong, underscoring the severe personal consequences associated with E-Sabong, which, like other forms of online gambling, has driven many of our kababayan—primarily from the poor working class—into crippling debt, criminal activity, with some losing their lives, such as in case of the 30 E-Sabungeros who remain missing to this day, all lost in the black hole of gambling, driven by the desperate hope of changing their lives.
The TUCP places its trust in the leadership of Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto to ensure that the Government pursues sustainable and ethical ways and means to generate revenue—that do not come at the expense of human rights or lives shattered by the cancerous POGO and E-Sabong operations in the past.
The TUCP remains firm in its advocacy for the creation of new, permanent, and decent jobs with living wages, starting with our proposed legislated wage hike of ₱150.
The TUCP feels this is the true path to uplifting the sorry state of Filipino working families, enabling them to break free from the allure of gambling that, while seemingly appealing, ultimately compromises our values, endangering families, and the nation as a whole.
