An indictment has been filed in the Philippines against 6 people for kidnapping a group of people in connection with cockfighting matches.
According to the “BBC”, it is believed that the people were kidnapped while on their way to attend a cockfighting match in the capital, Manila, reports a local Arabic daily.
This incident is part of a series of mysterious incidents linked to cockfighting, a popular branch of betting.
The taxes that the government collected from traders in these bets helped the government to raise its revenues, which declined during the Corona pandemic.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte banned cockfights from being broadcasted on the Internet, while allowing the traditional form of cockfighting to continue. The six people deny the charges against them.
It also filed an indictment against 3 former police officers for kidnapping a cockfighting fan from his home, according to the AFP news agency.
He accused the victim of setting up a website for fake matches. The indictment was filed while at least 27 people linked to the interruption of the cockfighting matches are still missing, and hope of finding them alive is waning.
“I don’t prefer to call them missing, they may have been dead,” said Justice Minister Jesus Rimola. Cockfighting in the Philippines attracts large audiences who bet on the winning rooster after the death of the other rooster. Sharp objects such as spears are attached to the feet of the roosters.
This form of sport is banned in many countries, but it has become more popular in the Philippines in recent years after matches began to take place on the Internet during the Corona pandemic.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte refused to submit to demands to ban these bets after the spread of violent incidents related to them, saying that the tax revenues on these matches, which amounted to more than $ 11 million per month, had helped the country’s economy during the closure phase due to Corona, but he finally banned the live broadcast of the matches before he left power in June. The authorities had finally allowed the resumption of traditional cockfighting.
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