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ANTIPOLO City: Police arrested 14 people, including
three Thais, in a raid Saturday night on a cockpit arena where
dogfights where being staged.
Police said they received a call
from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) that dogfights
were being held at the Kaysakat Cockpit Arena in Sitio Kaysakat,
Barangay Inarawan.
Agents from the Criminal
Investigation and Detection Division, led by Police Senior Insp.
Ernesto V. Padilla, raided the cockpit arena about 8:30 p.m.
Among those arrested was Danny
Tan Sy, 51, a resident of Barangay San Jose, who is said to be
running the dogfights.
The Thais were Phungmung Boonyang,
23; Timothy Amel Dharmajiva, 37; and Phanuwat Jinda Nunthawat, 43.
Also rounded up were: Romeo
Demition, 36; Juliet de Leon, 34; Efren Villacora, 77; Eric
Fernandez, 29; Jay Francisco, 25; Allan Lim-it, 29; Santy Gutierres,
24; Mark Vasco, 23; Efren Bagtas Jr., 27; and Rouie Romano, 26.
Anna Cabrera, PAWS director, told
reporters they had been keeping an eye on Sy for quite a while after
receiving information that he was putting up the dogfights. She
described Sy as a “bigwig” in the illegal game.
Cabrera admitted that they had
difficulty catching Sy in the act, because the venues of the fights
were not released until the last minute.
The police and PAWS said they
would file charges against the suspects for violating the Animal
Welfare Act and for illegal betting and gambling.
At the time of his arrest, Sy was
patting a wounded pit bull in one corner, while Dharmajiva was
holding a similar animal in the opposite corner, Cabrera said.
Both suspects denied that they
were the dogs’ owners. However, the animals’ behavior showed
that they recognized Sy and Dharmanijiva as their masters, Cabrera
said.
 --Francis
Earl A. Cueto
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