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Malacañang expressed confidence that the government could come up with additional revenues to replace the five to six billion pesos it will lose from the closure of online cockfighting operations in the country.

In his virtual press conference Wednesday, Acting Presidential Spokesperson Martin Andanar said they expect the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to offset the revenue gap.

"As to the other sources of income, we are confident Pagcor has the ability to generate new revenues," he said.

On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to stop online sabong operations in the country, citing a recommendation of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In a radio interview, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano said his recommendation was based on a survey conducted last April 19.

"Based on our survey. majority of our citizens do not like e-sabong. In fact, 68 percent. Our first question is if e-sabong helps us with our finances, 68 percent are highly in disagreement and for the suspension of e-sabong, 62 percent have agreed. 34 percent said it should have regulation and only four percent said it should continue without regulation," he said.

Aside from the result of the survey, Ano said Duterte decided to stop 'e-sabong' mainly because of moral issues like addiction.

"Those who become addicted to 'e-sabong' really look for money to the extent that they sell their house and lot, anything. Even a policeman committed a robbery holdup, some were buried in debt and separated from their family, Others can no longer work, study because there is no limitations, even minors are betting and the worst case is they commit crime to get money, this includes the disappearance of the 34 aficionados which we are still searching until now," he said.

"Our President is very brave, he is very hard but when it comes to the welfare of the people his heart is very soft. So these are the reasons that push him to stop the 'e-sabong'," he added.

As of Wednesday, Andanar said the Malacañang Record Office still has no copy of Duterte's issuance.

However in a television interview last Wed, Interior spokesperson Jonatan Malaya said they have started implementing the policy based on the public statement of Duterte.

Malaya said the ban could affect five million e-sabong players nationwide.

However, Malaya expressed hope that the affected players will just go back to traditional face-to-face cockfighing, which is held on definite schedules instead of the 'e-sabong', which is conducted 24 hours everyday. Robina Asido/DMS