SABUNGERO, THE CONTROVERSIAL COCK FIGHTING FILM
26 December 2009
“Sabungero”: An independent dramatic film in Philippine cockfighting - with video clips
“Raise your bets! Choose your roosters!” bet collectors call off as they begin raising bets in a cockpit arena in Pasig City.
Roosters clashing. Cockfighting aficionados shout their bets.
At a snap, roosters fitted with “tare” sharp blades on their legs fly up in the air and battle for supremacy to the thundering delight of the crowd.
A victorious cock emerges the winner while the loser bleeds on the ground waiting to be sewed or stewed.
It’s bedlam inside the cockpit arena.
“Cockfighting should not be abolished because many people earn a living from it. If it’s taken out of the Philippine culture, it’s like you have stripped the Filipino way of life,” said cockfight aficionado and journalist Rolando Luzong, lead convenor of Bantay Sabong (Cockfight Watch).
“It has been a part of heritage. In the same way, bullfighting has been popular in Spain and Mexico,” Luzong said in an interview with the Philippines News Agency.
Luzong claims that over the past 16 years, cockfighting grew by 10 percent due to the immense popularity in the Philippines.
The Animal Welfare Act of 1998 ensures the protection of pets and poultry such as dogs and horses but not the abolition of cockfighting.
It also states that poultry and stud farms should be registered with the Bureau of Animal Industry.
Animal right activists try to fight the rights of animals. They were able to end dog and horse fights.
Ana Hashin of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) said: “No, there shouldn’t be any cockfighting. Because it’s a cruel sport and it only teaches us that animals can be killed or made to suffer for our entertainment and that in itself is unethical,” Hashin said.
There’s an independent film about cockfighting, which tells about what really is cockfighting and the people behind it who work to make both ends meet.
Shown all over the country last November until late December, the film is intended for cockfight aficionados numbering to nearly 10 million.
The film is also about a business executive who is also a gambler hooked on cockfighting. His luck ran when got entangled into a web of financial problems and disagreements with a congressman who was trying to rival him in the sport.
“Sabungero: Dangal At Tibay (Cockfighter: Honor and Strength), is the title of the movie.
“Sabungero” (Filipino for Cockfighter), sheds light on the country’s cockfighting and gamefowl industry. It even inspired a group of gamefowl breeders to pursue a representation in the legislative branch of Philippine government.
Cockers or cockfighters pride themselves with honor, while the “kristo” (bet takers) call bets and they pay or get paid, even if the contract is just a hand sign.
“Sabungero” is about the Filipino’s enthusiasm in cockfighting. It is an independent film made by young Filipino filmmakers who want to showcase the lives of the cockfighters, handlers and gaffers who love to ruffle quite a few feathers.
The movie is all about cockfighting and gamefowls, a very popular traditional game in the Philippines , involving breeding, training and fighting of roosters.
Independent film directors Miguel Kaimo and Rozie Delgado, who co-directed the film, also shared their insights on the film.
Kaimo said “once sabong is mentioned, it’s automatically a negative connotation in people’s minds so we aim to change that because our eyes were opened when we went to research that for the movie and we try to portray that in the film.”
Kaimo and Delgado are new to the film industry. They are both from prestigious private universities in Manila .
“I can’t say anything to the animal lovers because I’m also an animal lover and as a director I did feel bad shooting chickens killing each other but everybody is entitled to their own opinion,” Delgado told PNA. (PNA)
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