ORMOC CITY- Mayor Richard Gomez of this city that he would regulate the holding of cockfighting saying staging such activity should be within what the laws allows.
Gomez, who is serving on his first term in office, noted that cockfighting is rampant in the city that even in sitios its being regularly held.
According to the city mayor, cockfighting is only allowed during a fiesta celebration or should be staged cockpit arena.
Gomez claimed that cockfightings were allowed to be held in the sitios even without occasion by the previous administration for days.
“If we will allow to have cockfighting in all villages including sub-villages, we might have cockfighting all year round in this city,” Gomez said.
He stressed that cockfight will only be limited in cockpit arena and during fiestas.
Ormoc City has two cockpit arenas.
Under Presidential Decree No 1310, a municipality or city with more than 100,000 population is allowed to have two cockpits.
Based on 2015 census, Ormoc City has a total population of 215,031.
Mayor Gomez also vowed to address other illegal activities like gambling.
“We need to address the problem in the family wherein husbands are going home without giving money to their wives because they lost in the gambling,” he said.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)