Former Candaba mayor Jerry Pelayo
City of San Fernando – Ex Pampanga vice governor Joseller “Yeng” Guiao, and former Candaba mayor Jerry Pelayo have expressed their sincere concern about the welfare of their kabalens in relation to the pitfall and miseries from the traumatic effects of e-sabong.
“The onset of e-sabong has a lot of Kapampangans becoming addicted to this online form of gambling. It is widely accessible to our kabalens who can access to internet, much like the illegal numbers game, but on a larger scale. Per reports, there are at least five to six betting stations per barangay here in Pampanga,” the former mayor of Candaba said.
Pelayo furthered, “a nephew of mine, Alvin Pelayo, committed suicide after he got heavily indebted due to e-sabong. My nephew was also able to sell some of the family property to pay his initial debt of Php600,000. However, he accumulated another Php800,000 in debt due to his addiction to talpakan. When he could no longer pay, he got depressed and took his own life. His three children now, all minors, will have to accept the fact that they will grow up without a father.”
A helper, Bernie Magat, who had been employed by one of the undersigned for more than four years, was caught stealing; he admitted he had resorted to such acts to bet on online sabong.
Elsewhere, farmers have been reported to sell their farm lots and carabaos, or mortgage their houses, just to pay debts incurred from their newfound addiction to e-sabong
The two Kapampangan leaders in a joint statement question why are people trooping to the e-sabong betting stations? Guiao and Pelayo fear that this kind of gambling gives these people a false hope of overcoming poverty overnight. That the more they pin their hopes on e-sabong to help them break out from poverty, the more they are plunged into an abyss of debt that is sometimes too deep that people are forced to take their own existence.
Guiao and Pelayo added that this is worse than the illegal drug trade. Illegal drugs are not easy to get, and transactions are done discreetly. But e-sabong, being legal, is out in the open. With the reported five to six betting stations per barangay, there are even reports of minors, such as 10-year-old kids, casting their bets.
“As people continue to suffer economically due to this pandemic, the more they would be inclined to engage in games promising an escape route out of poverty. We hope the government will review its policy on e-sabong, eventually suspending or even rescinding the franchises it granted these operators. We cannot bear seeing more lives wasted, more families broken up, and more crimes committed by people addicted to talpakan,” the two Kapampangan leaders added.
