Sabong Comedy

E-sabong isn’t dead, says Charlie “Atong” Ang, the gambling netherworld’s Lord of the Ruweda. It is merely suspended, but when it resumes it will be more regulated and the fights will no longer be round-the-clock, says Ang, the country’s biggest e-sabong operator.

Now that e-sabong can’t operate yet, Atong is able to spend more time with his mother. He grew up helping her, a Chinese merchant who used to sell a hodgepodge of goods to wet market vendors around Metro Manila – from cooking oil to chicharon to pansit bihon.

But Ang, 63, is ready to defend e-sabong in any court, even before God. The gambling tycoon prays everyday without fail and he does it with a clear conscience. Losing a few thousand pesos won’t make the poor poorer, he believes, but for as little as P100, they have the chance to make their lives even just a bit better.