Bacolod SP seeks clarification on fiesta cockfights
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The Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod wants the Philippine National Police, through P/Col. Noel Aliño, to clarify the legal basis for cockfighting during fiesta and/or charter day celebrations in the city’s various barangays.
The resolution authored by Councilor Al Victor Espino said City Ordinance No. (CO) 506, series of 2009, grants authority to the Sanggunian to issue special permits for special cockfights in Bacolod City for specified purposes.
The ordinance defines a licensed cockpit as “a cockpit which has been issued the permit and the authority to operate as such by the city after complying with all the requirements as so provided for under CO 87 series of 1993.” (https://tinyurl.com/y6cx3n5r)
The power to regulate cockfights was devolved to the local government unit with the passage of the Local Government Code of 1991, which superseded/repealed the Cockfighting Law of 1974, it stated.
Espino also cited DILG Opinion No. 131, series of 2022 that: “With the passage of R.A. 7160, the authority to license the establishment and operation of cockfighting has been expressly granted to the Sangguniang,” the resolution said.
The resolution also noted that the city ordinance providing regulation, including the establishment of cockpits, has never been challenged or declared void and unconstitutional before the proper courts.
The City Council was even vindicated of the charges filed against them in relation to the issuance of special permits to the barangays before the Court of Appeals in a December 8, 2021 decision docketed as CA GR. SP No. 11346 and 11349, it added.
