BACOLOD City – There is no total ban on cockfighting in this city, according to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
However, acting BCPO director Colonel Noel Aliño clarified that cockfighting is only allowed with a permit secured from the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
“Hindi naman totally banned ang cockfighting, basta naka-align sa Presidential Decree 449 at sa resolution,” he said.
Last week, the SP passed a resolution clarifying to the Philippine National Police the legal basis for holding cockfights during fiestas or similar celebrations.
City Ordinance (CO) 506, series of 2009, grants authority to the SP to issue special permits for special cockfights for specified purposes.
The ordinance defined a “licensed cockpit” as “a cockpit that 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.
And, “an area which has been adopted by the barangay through a barangay resolution as its temporary cockpit for a 3-day period in celebration of its barangay fiesta and/or Charter Day, or by the Province of Negros Occidental in its celebration of Panaad sang Negros Festival, provided that said barangay/province secures a special permit from the SP in compliance with Section 1, paragraph 9a, sub-paragraph 4 hereof.”
It also said that the power to regulate cockfights was devolved to the local government unit through the Local Government Code of 1991, which superseded/repealed the cockfighting law of 1974./PN
