Six cockfighters charged with kidnapping in Philippines

• Six people were allegedly kidnapped in January while en route to a fight.
• It’s part of a string of puzzling disappearances plaguing the sector.
• In June, former President Rodrigo Duterte made live-streamed cockfights illegal.

A number of individuals connected to the Philippines cockfighting industry were abducted, and six persons have been charged in connection with the crime.

The six people were allegedly kidnapped in January while en route to a fight in the Philippine city of Manila.

It’s a part of a string of puzzling disappearances that have been plaguing the sector, which hosts a lot of wagering games.

After the Covid epidemic, taxes from live-streamed cockfights helped the government recoup its losses.

But in the end, former President Rodrigo Duterte outlawed online combat while permitting the practice of conventional cockfighting to continue.

According to reports, the six suspects deny the charges.

A cockfighting fan was allegedly kidnapped from his home in August 2021, according to the news agency, and three former police officers have also been prosecuted in connection with the incident.

Media reported that the victim had been charged with running a fictitious betting website.

The allegations come while there are still at least 27 people associated with the lucrative sector missing, however there is less chance that they will be discovered alive.

“I wouldn’t even want to call them missing cockfighters, but probably dead cockfighters,” Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said this week.

Hefty crowds frequently watch cockfighting in the Philippines and place large bets on which rooster would prevail in a duel to the death.

The birds’ legs are fastened with pointed metal spurs.

The sport is prohibited in many other nations, but since Covid limitations forced it online, it has grown even more well-liked in the Philippines.

Despite tales of addiction and violence, former president Rodrigo Duterte resisted calls to outlaw “e-sabong,” the sport’s online counterpart, while acknowledging that monthly taxes of about 640 million pesos ($11.5 million; £9.6 million) had contributed to the government’s recovery from the pandemic.

Eventually, just before he left office in June, he made the live-streamed fights illegal. Traditional cockfighting is now permitted.

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