Cockfighting is extremely popular in my country, the Philippines. In fact, it's a multi-billion peso industry, and if it were to be shut down, many ordinary citizens would be affected. It's said that cockfighting existed even before the Spanish conquest, which is why I believe it's deeply embedded in our culture and tradition, making it difficult to simply put an end to it.
Indeed, it's even in our books and it's considered as one of the favorite past time in our country. And in the last 5 years, it has grown tremendously, thanks to Atong Ang and e-sabong.
Although many people say that cockfighting is cruel to animals, setting that issue aside and focusing on the event itself, I find it incredibly thrilling. The matches can be highly addictive—especially if you have a genuine passion for these birds.
Your thoughts?
Maybe others won't really understand the passion of the Filipinos to this sports as again, as you have said, pre-Spanish, we already have this sports in our country. So it's really hard to forget or removed it as we consider this as a sports already. Not to argue with animal welfare society, I do hope that they will respect our culture.