Animal Rights movement and Traditional Cockfighting: A case study of selected
residence in Alawihao Daet Camarines Norte
A thesis proposal
Presented to
The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
Camarines Norte State College
In Partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of Bachelor of Arts
Major in Sociology
Jeffrey C. Cerilo
2023
Table of contents
1. _________________________________Background of the study
2. _________________________________Background of the study
3. _________________________________Background of the study
4. _________________________________Definition of term
5. _________________________________Significance of the study
6. _________________________________Objectives of the study &
Scope and delimitation
7. _________________________________ Chapter 2 RRL/S
Cockfighting as sports
8. _________________________________ Animal rights
9. _________________________________Cockfighting & criminal activity
10. _________________________________Culture and Religion of cockfighting
11. _________________________________ Labeling Theory
12. _________________________________ Labeling Theory
13. _________________________________ Theoretical framework
14. _________________________________ Methodology, Data collection
procedure, Population of the study
15. _________________________________ Sampling technique, Ethical
consideration
Chapter 1
Background of the study
Cockfighting is a form of gambling where money is involved, a lot of people tolerate
the said activity and it can be seen everywhere, however “Cockfighting is an age-old
practice in which two or more specially bred birds, known as gamecocks, are placed in
an enclosed pit to fight for the primary purposes of gambling and entertainment. A typical
cockfight can last anywhere from several minutes to more than half an hour and usually
results in the death of one or both birds” (The facts about cockfighting, n.d.). According to
Gonzales (2021) Philippine cockfighting started 6,000 years ago, however Ferdinand
Magellan’s chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta first witness the modern cockfighting in 1525 in
the kingdom of Taytay Palawan and documented it, additionally cockfighting is still legal
and popular in the Philippines and a billion dollar industry, currently Philippine has
approximately 2,500 stadiums across the country where about 30 million rooster fight and
die every year
In history the treatment towards animals was given attention and study by the early
social scientist, “Up until the 17th century, philosophers regarded animals as being quite
distinct from human beings; human beings had rationality whereas animals had none.
This meant that animals had only instrumental value and could be used in any way that
human beings desired. During the Enlightenment, philosophers started to realize that the
distinction was not clear, animals had some rationality. Bentham (1823) pointed out that
rationality was not the important factor; animals could suffer and that was what mattered;
animals had intrinsic value. Also, during the 19th century, as part of Darwin’s theory of
evolution by natural selection, it was seen that states of suffering and states of pleasure
could also be adaptive. Although the foundation was now in place, the emergence of
modern animal welfare science was delayed through the first 70 years of the 20th century
by Behaviorism, which eschewed any consideration of subjective experiences. It took a
controversial book by a layperson, Ruth Harrison, to stir both the scientific and
philosophical community into developing theories of animal welfare and a book by an
ethologist, Donald Griffin, to make it acceptable to study the feelings of animals” (Duncan,
n.d.).
The Animal Welfare Act of 1998 is a significant law in the Philippines that aims to
protect the welfare of animals. It prohibits acts of cruelty towards animals, such as
maltreatment, torture, killing, and neglect. The law also regulates the sale, transport, and
handling of animals to ensure their welfare. Violators of this law may face penalties,
including fines and imprisonment (Attorneys of the Philippines, 2023).
In 1974, the Cockfighting Law was passed. It acknowledged sabong as “a popular,
traditional, and customary form of recreation and entertainment among Filipinos” that
should be “a vehicle for the preservation and perpetuation of native Filipino heritage and,
thereby, enhance our national identity.” According to cockfighting the Cockfighting Law of
1974, also known as Presidential Decree No. 449, was a law in the Philippines that
banned cockfighting in certain locations and imposed penalties for those who violated the
law. The law prohibited cockfighting within 200 meters of a school or any public place,
including markets, alleys, and streets. It also prohibited the holding of a cockfighting derby
without a license from the mayor or provincial governor. Any person caught violating the
law would be punished with imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to 2,000
pesos or both. The law also authorized the confiscation of all equipment used in illegal
cockfighting events, including the gamecocks themselves. The purpose of the law was to
ensure the safety and well-being of the public and to prevent the proliferation of illegal
gambling and other criminal activities associated with cockfighting. Despite this law,
however, cockfighting remains a popular and widespread activity in the Philippines,
particularly in rural areas.
According to Agcaoili et. al, (n. d.) In the Middle Ages, Persian brought cockfighting
to Greece, however most experts believe that the tradition itself originated from Southeast
Asia. During 1974, President Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 449
creating the “Cockfighting Law of 1974” which governed the establishment and operations
of cockpits in the country. As stated in the law, cockfighting is a vehicle for the preservation
of Filipino culture which may enhance the national identity.
On the other hand, cockfighting is a controversial issue since it violates animal
rights as a form of cruelty to animals according to Kjonnas (n. d) The established
movement for animal protection started in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Bills
against animal cruelty were passed in England and several American states. In the mid1800s the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed, and anti-vivisection
(animal research) movements appeared.
Definition of term
Culture:
Tradition:
Deviance:
Animal rights:
Animal welfare:
Symbolic interaction:
Labelers
Labeled
Significance of the study
This study will show how our society deals with animals regarding on cockfighting,
it benefits others including
Society: knowing different perspectives in our society regarding cockfighting will widen
the knowledge and understanding about the justification of every individual on how
they perceived animal rights and cockfighting as a collective ideology that
construct our society.
Government: This study will give awareness or guide to make a ethical treatment or
either enhance peace and order or promote government income and cultural
identity.
Parents: cockfight as a form of violence and animal cruelty will give awareness to parents
to guide the thoughts of their children from cockfighting.
Concerned citizens: Awareness of the citizen regarding on cockfighting and animal
rights will serve as a guide on how they treat animals without breaking the norms
of animal rights or animal welfare.
Future researcher: the result of a study will benefits future researchers in order to
enhance the knowledge and information about the topic.
Objectives of the study
The objectives of this study are the following:
1. To understand how animal rights movement and cultural cockfighting
influences the residence in Alawihao Daet Camarines Norte specifically its
aims to answer the following question:
• Why does cockfighting or sabong gives negative perception on residence?
• How does animal rights affect Alawihao residence?
• How does animal rights movement affect traditional cockfighting?
2. To explain the impact of animal rights movement on residence and
3. To know how they perceived cockfighters or themselves engaging in that
particular activity or sport.
Scope and delimitation
This study will explore the perspectives of residence in Alawihao Daet Camarines
Norte towards animal rights and cockfighting, it also involves their experiences with
regards on animal rights that shape their views on how they see cockfighting.
Chapter 2
Related literature and studies
Cockfighting as sports
Before rooster get into cockpit arena first it should go through proper training of
fighting skills to be qualified in the game, the cock or chicken are paired together depends
on their physical qualities such as height, weight and wingspan, after paring the cock, a
gaff or local term as “tari” and a leg band are attached on the leg of the cock, cock and
the owner are assigned to a specific side “meron” and “wala” , the arena has a two area
the VIP area ( very important person) and the area wherein regular participants watch.
Due to pandemic, cockfighting is being shut for two years, dynamically cockfighting
is a significant activity since million of dollars are bet on matches every week, when
cockpits reopened, regulators wary of spreading the coronavirus through excessive crowd
interaction ordered operators to install betting machines, so winners could collect their
money from the cashier instead, “to revive the sport and get revenue flowing into
government coffers drained by the Covid-19 response, former president Rodrigo Duterte
issued permits to seven outfits to operate online cockfighting. Known as e-sabong, fights
were held in empty arenas and streamed 24 hours a day, allowing people to place
minimum bets of 200 pesos (US$3.40) per fight on their mobile phones SCMP, (2022)
Animal Rights
According to Orzechowski, (2020) animal rights is a complex issue however most
of countries around the world has no laws protecting the rights of the animals or laws that
acknowledge the existence of these rights although this right exists it does not recognize
in most of the country. The ultimate goal of the animal rights movement is “to place
animals “beyond use” of human beings, putting an end to exploitative industries and
practices including laboratory testing, whaling, and puppy mills “.
As stated in this article there is a lot of approach to achieve this goal such as
Grassroot advocacy involving public demonstrations, as well as documentaries and other
educational tools have long been deployed as methods of raising public awareness of the
suffering endured by animals at human hands, as well as familiarizing the public with the
concept of animal rights.
In Philippines, animal rights is not fully recognized since generally people violated
it, however there are laws in the Philippines concerned on animals which is animal welfare
act of 1998, although, these rights prohibited and lessen deviant act towards animals, the
said law has an exemption as being stated in republic act number 8485 section 6, “the
killing of any animals other than cattle pigs, goat, sheep, poultry, rabbits, carabaos,
horses, deer and crocodiles is likewise hereby declared unlawful except in the following
instances: “
“(1) When it is done as part of the religious rituals of an established religion or sect or a
ritual required by tribal or ethnic custom of indigenous cultural communities; however,
leaders shall keep records in cooperation with the Committee on Animal Welfare;”
Cockfighting and criminal activity
According to ASPCA, (n.d), cockfighting is closely connected to other crimes such
as gambling, drugs and acts of violence, cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states and is a
felony offense in 42 states and the District of Columbia. The possession of birds for
fighting purposes is prohibited in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and being a
spectator at a cockfighting event is illegal in 43 states and the District of Columbia,
however, aside from being cruel to animals it is also considered as national game
obsession in the Philippines, gambling is the norm of cockfights, the primary reason the
fight occur because of the large sums of money involved cockfight related assault home
invasion and even murders are not uncommon, it attracts people to get involved in a range
of criminal activity.
Being addictive to this kind of activity can cause crime and other illegal activity,
“the disappearance earlier in the year of 34 cockfighting workers, who are feared dead,
and reports of gamblers being driven to financial ruin revealed the seedy side of e-sabong.
Some punters reportedly killed themselves, while a woman was arrested for allegedly
selling her baby to pay off debts. Under growing pressure from the public and lawmakers,
Duterte reluctantly shut down online cockfighting soon before his term ended in June”
SCMP, (2022).
Cultural and Religious cockfighting
Cockfighting is deeply rooted in Philippines way back from the Spanish
government wherein it is being legal because they earned from the license that they
issued, furthermore during 1861 the government assigned festive regarding on
cockfighting as Filipino pastimes mostly men are involved on the spot Camaya, (2020)
however in other country cockfighting is part of the religion (Balinese Hinduism) the cock
fighting use as ceremonies and temple cleansing, they believed that the blood of the lost
cock drive away evil spirit Adelaide, (2023)
Theory
This study is anchored on the labeling theory or social reaction theory of many social
scientists ( Becker 1974, 1963; Erikson 1962 Kitsuse 1962; Prus and Grill, 2003 ) This
theory is a version of symbolic interactionism, it stated that through interaction we give or
impute meaning and definition regarding on something based on our experience, in
connection with deviance, it is subjective therefore we interpret that an act either deviance
or not based on our experience that shapes our views on how we see an act either it is
right or wrong, according to this theory deviance is a collective action of people wherein
it emphasize the interaction of deviant and other people since interaction is a big factor
that influence every individual that resulted into how people perceived an act, the
interaction is being governed by the imputed meanings for action and reaction of people
that involves in interaction therefore if the response is negative it is deviance if the
response is positive it perceived as non deviance, according to Kitsuse, (1962) “form of
the behavior of person do not differentiate deviants from nondeviants ; it is the responses
of the conventional and conforming members of the society who identify and interpret
behavior as deviant which sociologically transform persons into deviants”. Furthermore
from that people learn an act through primary and secondary deviation , Primary deviation
refers to the initial stages of deviance, where an individual engages in behavior that
violates social norms, but still considers themselves to be a conforming member of society
whereas secondary deviation, on the other hand, refers to the continued and increased
engagement in deviant behavior after being labeled as deviant by society. This can result
in the individual feeling alienated from society and developing a deviant subculture with
others who also engage in similar behaviors.
Although animal rights is not yet fully conventionally considered, little by little there is a
movement that describe or give meaning to the action of how we should treat animals,
this movement influence individuals regarding on how they see animal fighting such as
cockfighting, therefore the animal rights serves as labeler wherein cockfighting is being
labeled as deviance arguing that it is a form of cruelty to animal that is against on their
standard way of treating animals.
Because of the negative effect of cockfighting as a form of gambling, it is being perceived
or labeled by other people as deviant, however not all people perceive it the same
especially the people engaged in cockfighting that commonly normalize the said activity
or sport .
The labeling theory interpreted deviance as a dynamic process that an individual’s
perception of deviant can be change through symbolic interaction, as animal rights
movement occur with having different way of approaches in achieving their goal the
symbolic interaction happens in a way that people watches documentaries, public
demonstration, and emotional tools used by animal rights advocates to raise the public
awareness of the suffering injured by animals at human hands just like the bloodsport of
animals, however numerous people are being obsessed in the said activity which
perceiving it as a normal scenario of entertainment for them since it is being viewed as
traditional and a practice, in the Philippines it is considered as legal as long as the said
activity or sport has a permit issued by the government or from the municipality therefore
it is not considered as criminal offense but considered deviant for animal rights advocates
and for individuals that sees and has negative response on the said sport.
Chapter 3
Methodology
The researcher uses qualitative approach, the goal of the study is to know the
perspectives of the residence on cockfighting thus it investigates and conceptualize
human experience as it expressed in writing conducting the study will also use interview
method wherein participants narrate their subject interest.
Data collection procedure
Data will be collected through a semi-structured interview. Semi-structured
interviews are used in qualitative research to allow participants to express their
experiences and perspectives in their own words. The researcher will conduct individual
interviews with each participant using an interview guide that includes open-ended
questions to explore the perspective toward cockfighting.
Population of the study
The respondents of the study are cockfighters and non-cockfighters residence in
Alawihao Daet Camarines Norte who knows cockfighting with ages of 28 and above, 20
participants must interview to gather sufficient data for the study.
Sampling technique
The researcher will use a purposive sampling technique to choose the right
participant that has the quality, knowledge, information, and characteristic that is relevant
to the research questionnaires.
Ethical considerations
Ethical consideration will be addressed in the study. Informed consent will be
obtained from all participants before the interviews. Participants will be informed about
the purpose of the study and their rights as participants. Furthermore, confidentiality and
anonymity will be maintained throughout the study and all data will be stored securely.
Research questionnaires
1. How does documentaries, emotional videos and other similar things regarding on
animals influence you as an individual?
2. Do you consider cockfighting as negative activity of human? Why?
3. What is your reaction on those people who love cockfighting?
4. In what way do you think cockfighting affect the lives of people?
5. Why do you think cockfighting should or should not legalize?
6. How and why did you get involved in cockfighting ?
7. How does cockfighting helps you as an individual?
8. How do you see yourself doing this kind of activity?
9. What can you say to those people saying that cockfighting violated animal rights?
10. Why do you think cockfighting should still legalize?
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