Three police officers in the Philippine province of Laguna, south of Manila, have been placed in restrictive custody for their alleged involvement in the abduction of a man linked to online cockfighting, also known as e-sabong.
According to details published by state-run Philippine News Agency, the three officers – Rogart Campo, Roy Navarete and Daryl Paghangaan – were involved in the abduction in August 2021, while Campo is also alleged to have received Php1 million (US$19,000) from a local businessman.
The report claims that at least two of the accused had been identified as being among those to have abducted Ricardo Lasco, who is described as an e-sabong “master agent”. Lasco has not been seen since.
The arrests come as Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR continues to resist calls by the Senate to suspend all regulated e-sabong activities in the country while a full investigation is conducted into the disappearances of at least 31 people in cases believed to be linked to betting on the popular pastime.
As previously reported by IAG, the unsolved disappearances include 10 men who went missing shortly after being seen in cockfighting arenas in Laguna and Manila on 13 January, another six men after participating in a cockfighting tournament in Manila on the same day and 10 men from Bulacan who have been missing since attended a cockfighting match in mid-2021.
PAGCOR began issuing licenses to selected e-sabong operators in May 2021 in an effort to raise revenues while stamping out illegal online activities.
The regulator said at the time that it “advises the public not to engage in any gaming activity from unlicensed e-sabong operators and unregistered e-sabong websites to avoid being duped and cheated of your hard-earned money.
“It is for the above reasons that PAGCOR had to step in to regulate the emerging industry to primarily protect the Filipino players and to ensure that the government get its appropriate share of revenues from their operations. Without regulation, e-sabong will proliferate and have far reaching detrimental effects on its players.”
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