ROLIGON RETURNS
After several years, the sleeping dragon, that is Roligon Mega Cockpit, wakes up with a roar that reverberated throughout the sabong community.
Roligon Mega Cockpit which was built in 1988 and was finished in 1990 is the precursor to the former Parañaque Cockpit Stadium or what was popularly called 7-Up because it was situated near the soft drinks bottling plant.
During its glory days from 1990 to 2001, Roligon Mega Cockpit staged some of the most memorable cockfighting events in the history of Philippine sabong. Through the experimentations and innovations of Roligon thru its blockbuster promotions like the annual Hatawan sa Tag-ulan, Largahan, Noche Buena derby and World Pitmasters Cup International Derby, new derby formats have been introduced into the Sport. These historic and record-breaking were the same format from which Bakbakan and Rambulan were patterned. In fact, Roligon Mega Cockpit was so successful that it served as an inspiration for a lot of groups and individuals to put up their own cockpit, some of which even copied the way Roligon was built.
However, the time came when Roligon suffered a down trend and things cooled down until there was almost nary a whimper left.
Last June 29 to July 8, during the staging of the 2010 Hatawan sa Tag-ulan 5-Cock Derby
It also marked Rolando Luzong’s return to Roligon where he worked for ten years until 2001. Coming back with him were the original Roligon Boys – Fred Canumay, Willy Villaruz and Nestor Paradillo.
With Dennis Ligon, now at the helm, the facilities were improved and upgraded. New things were implemented new things and effective rules that were practiced in the pasts were re-introduced, all for the benefit of the majority and the betterment of the fights. Participants cooperated and everyone benefited.
Among the good things that materialized was the less issuance of checks. There was never a single problem wherein bets or pago were not paid because some new guy issued a check or a wise guy bet P11,000 and after losing issued a P100,000 check, like the practice of some monkey-wrench-aficionados who comes in for free then creates problem for the promoter or the cockpit owner.
Another nice thing observed, thanks to the Hatawan participants, was the fact that no prima donna showed up among them. In most derbies, just one abusive participant ruins everything. In the Hatawan case, everything moved like clock work because no one tried to impose himself on others.
Well, maybe it’s also dependent on how the derby was managed. No one was given special treatment. The matching was open to the public and was done in the fairest way possible.
Salute to those who joined the event such as Cito Alberto, Rey Briones, Wilvin Sy, Boy Marzo, Dr. Mabanta & Atty Lutero, Gerry Garovillas, Blandy Tolentino, Bobby Fernandez of Zamboanga, Dr. Boy Tuazon, Engr. Bryant Vahlois, Joey Bravo of Cyberfriends, Joey Hidalgo, James Uy, Francis Lumunsad, Allan Siaco, Eddie Aparri, Atty. Art de Castro, Engr. Moises Almuete from Nueva Vizcaya, Cong Lawrence Wacnang, the OFW cockers and to everyone who I forgot to mention.
A total of 200 participants saw action with 8 entries scoring a perfect 5 wins each to share the top honors and the P1.2 million champion’s prize.
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