PH22 Cockpit Arena in the Philippines: Licences, Days and Limits

Online e-sabong has been suspended nationwide since 2022. A spoken order from the President on 3 May 2022, delivered in a taped broadcast, stopped the operators first. Executive Order No. 9, issued on 28 December 2022 under President Marcos, then formally kept all e-sabong operations suspended nationwide.

What remains lawful is cockfighting inside a licensed cockpit arena, and this page explains what that means.

Everything below is a cultural and legal explainer. It names no betting platform, no stream and no way to wager online, because none is lawful. You get the rules of the venue itself, who licenses it, and which fights fall outside the law.

What a licensed cockpit arena is under PD 449

A cockpit arena is a licensed cockfighting venue governed by Presidential Decree No. 449, the Cockfighting Law of 1974. Section 1 gives the decree its name, and Section 2 says it governs the establishment, operation, maintenance and ownership of cockpits. The decree is the reason a cockpit looks the way it does: a fixed, licensed building, not an open field.

You will meet the same words in the cockpit itself, where the sabungero crowd knows the gaffer as the mananari and the referee as the sentensyador. Who a sabungero is matters here because the law licenses the people in these roles, not only the building.

Cockpit arena rules on ownership, number and location

PD 449 sets three limits on the venue before a single fight happens. Ownership, count and location are each fixed in Section 5, so you can check any local cockpit against them.

1. Ownership (Section 5(a)). Only Filipino citizens not otherwise barred by existing laws may own, manage and operate cockpits.
2. Number (Section 5(b)). One cockpit is allowed in each city or municipality. Where the population is over one hundred thousand, two may be established.
3. Location (Section 5(c)). Cockpits follow the local zoning law, and they cannot stand within or near residential or commercial areas, hospitals, school buildings, churches or other public buildings.

The Local Government Code, Republic Act No. 7160, adds a guard against conflicts of interest. Section 89(a)(2) lists holding an interest in a cockpit licensed by a local government unit among the things local officials may not do.

When cockfights may lawfully be held

The calendar is the second half of what makes a cockpit arena lawful. Section 5(d) of PD 449 ties every fight to a permitted occasion, and a licensed cockpit alone is not enough.

1. Sundays.
2. Legal holidays.
3. Local fiestas, for not more than three days.
4. A provincial, city or municipal agricultural, commercial or industrial fair, carnival or exposition, for a similar period of three days.

The same section lists days on which cockfighting is prohibited, among them Holy Thursday, Good Friday and election days. A fight that lands on one of those days is outside the decree even in a licensed building.

The fiesta rule explains why a town can host a long card for a few days a year. A pintakasi day is the best-known example of that festive format, and the page on it shows how it differs from an ordinary Sunday.

Who licenses a cockpit arena

Licensing sits with local government, not with the national gaming regulator. Section 6 of PD 449 authorises city and municipal mayors to issue licences for the operation and maintenance of cockpits, subject to the approval of the Chief of Constabulary or an authorised representative.

The people inside the venue are licensed too. Section 7 says gaffers, referees and bet takers or promoters may not act as such in an authorised cockfight without first securing a licence, and that the licence is renewable every year.

Executive Order No. 9 repeats the local-government point in its own recitals, noting that the Local Government Code lets local government units authorise and license cockpits and regulate cockfighting. The bet taker role is the one most people picture as the kristo, and what a casador does separates the two jobs for you.

Sabong arena: the same building under another name

Sabong arena is the everyday phrase, and cockpit is the legal one. Both point to the same licensed building, so a sabong arena without a licence is simply an unlicensed venue.

The word arena also hides a useful fact for readers. The decree speaks about a place you can physically visit and a licence you can ask the municipal hall about, which is the opposite of an anonymous website.

Cockfighting in the Philippines: what is not lawful

Cockfighting in the Philippines has two lawful faces and several unlawful ones. The lawful face is the licensed cockpit on a permitted day, and everything else falls outside it.

Tupada is the informal fight held away from a licensed arena, and the decree gives it no permission. E-sabong is the other half: Section 1 of Executive Order No. 9 suspends all e-sabong operations nationwide, including live-streaming of cockfights outside cockpits and online or remote wagering, while excluding traditional licensed cockfights. The e-sabong suspension timeline lays out every step from May to December 2022.

Play safe and check the rules yourself

This site is a player guide for a casino brand, and sabong is a separate subject with its own law. If gambling of any kind is straining your budget or your time, the PAGCOR responsible gaming resources list the self-exclusion portal and the National Problem Gambling Helpline. The age line for gambling here is 21, and the PH22 responsible gaming rules set out the limits you can apply to yourself.

To weigh any brand before you touch it, read whether PH22 is legit for the checks you can run against PAGCOR’s own lists. For the casino itself, start from the PH22 casino overview.

Where to read next in the cockpit series

The four pages below each answer one question this pillar only touches.

1. Who takes part: the sabungero page.
2. How a fiesta card runs: the pintakasi page.
3. Which job does what: the casador page.
4. What 2022 changed: the e-sabong suspension page.