C O C K F I G H TI N G

by Godofredo U. Stuart Jr.

It is the brutal and bloody "sport" of two gamecocks pitted against each other,
predicated on one killing the other. Literally, a fight to the finish. To the
unaccustomed, a gruesome and disgusting sight. But to the passionately addicted,
testosterone-fueled and adrenaline-raging sabong aficionados, it is a fierce,
bloody, and slashingly entertaining fight-to-the-death that repeats itself 20 to 30
times in a single day of cockfighting.

Behind this gruesome sport is an all consuming male-oriented pastime fueled by a

passion that transcends into a quasi-religion—a common man's grail.

THE LANGUAGE

OF BETTING ODDS

Parehas

Even odds

Lo dies

Logro diez

100 wins 125

200 wins 250

400 wins 500

Walo-anim

300 wins 400

600 wins 800

Onse

400 wins 550

800 wins 1100

Tres

1000 wins 1500

Sampu-anim

600 wins 1000

Doblado

1000 wins 2000

It has been called a "national sport" – a designation that easily draws divisive
argument. But, it is a "national pastime" – a sphere of activity where class lines
blur, a game enjoyed with equal fervor by both the rich and the masa. Parity,
however, is more imagined than real. The moneyed aficionados are usually
involved with expensive brood cocks of pedigree lineage bred for "fastest kill" and
trained for big money derby events, with a variety of breed-names as descriptive
as: lemon, radio, white kelso, Madigan Grey, McClean, roundhead, claret, or
sweater. In contrast, much of the rural-provincial folk are involved with training
and conditioning their low-pedigreed mestizo cocks, usually for hack fights. For
the rich, it is the "sport of kings" – of nerve and verve, macho and ego, and the
tens-of-thousands of pesos or even millions won or lost with a shrug. And for the
masa, a sport of dreamers, pitting their lowly-rural-bred against a burgis cock,
betting their meager wages and rainy-day savings, high on a belief that on any day,
with the luck of a parry-dodge-and-slash. . . and a prayer. . . his game cock can
win.

In seeming parity, there are months of conditioning and training, sparring days
and rest days, countless diet regimens, energy boosters and supplements -- tonics,
B-complex and B12 shots, stimulants, multivitamins, and even prefight doses of
testosterone – endless variations that always buy the rich an edge. It is an intense
regimen of training dedicated to instill in the cock the skills for survival and the art
of killing, for which they are rewarded with excessive doses of TLC – preened,
stroked, massaged and shampooed. It is not an exaggeration to say that some
men give more loving attention to his fighting cocks than to the wife and kids.

This pastime has spawned an industry that caters to fanatical moneyed devotees a
whole array of choices and decisions way before the cocks make it to the arena:
the source of gladiator cocks, imported hi-breed eggs, bloodlines and crosses,
genes and progeny testing, pedigreed breeding farms, breeding, linebreeding and
crossbreeding, training schools specializing in fast kills, supplements and
pharmaceuticals, specialized cock-doctors. And to boot, a cable television program
to provide bloody entertainment and to sell cock goodies from.

At the spectrum's other end, there are are the rural afficionados who make up the
majority of cockfighting devotees, low on science and high on hopes, picking from
a flock-mated brood, often of concocted or imagined pedigree, guided by cock
physiognomy and the accumulated oral hand-me-down bible of rural sabong.

A betting heritage sport

Brutal, bloody, and entertaining—all that, but it's also a betting sport. Betting is a
sine qua non of sabong. In fact, without betting sabong will be transformed into
an unrecognizable namby-pamby sport. Betting discharges the adrenaline and
stokes the din and theater of the kristos. With the Cockfighting Law of 1974,
President Ferdinand E. Marcos, stamped his imprimatur on sabong with
Presidential Decree No. 499, essentially designating it as a "vehicle for the
preservation and perpetuation of native Filipino heritage and thereby enhance
our national identity." The cock-a-hoop endorsement provided legal status to
kristos and the culture of cockfight betting.

Superstitions, while providing comic color to cockfighting, are taken seriously by

many rural sabong devotees.

(1) The arrival of a female visitor on the day of the cockfight is inauspicious.

(2) Do not sweep the floor of the house on sabong day.

(3) Avoid cockfighting on Fridays.

(4) Avoid going to the cockfight with a hole in one of the pants' pockets.

(5) Don't look back when walking to the cockpit arena.

(6) Bet on the "mayahin" and white cocks on days with moonlit nights.

(7) It is an unlucky day if one runs into a funeral procession on the way to the
cockfight.

(8) Shaving is avoided on sabong day for fear it might cause the game cock's blade
to break.

(9) Avoid having sex the night before.

Cock with training gloves

The Derby

and the Hack Fight

Hack fights are literal to the root word: Hack, to cut, chop, hew, slash or gash.
These are the generic ulutan-paired cockfights, 20 to 30 in an afternoon of
cockfighting. This is when the masa can mix blades with the deep-pockets and
burgis.

The derby, once referred to as the "pintakasi," is the cockfighting event for the
serious aficionado and deep-pockets. The cocks are paired according to weight.
Each team enters with a team-name and a fixed "pot money" amount (ex: P10,000
for each of 10 teams makes a 100,000 total pot) that becomes the prize-money
for the team with the most wins. A 3-cock derby may last deep into the night or
past the midnight hours; a 7- or 9-cock derby may last for days.

Cockfights for the Dearly Departed

Tupadahan para sa Patay

In the rural areas, the dead is occasionally an opportunity for cockfighting. To help
defray funeral expenses, a complimentary permit is obtained from the municipal
government to allow cockfighting during the 3-5 days duration of the wake.
Usually, 10 percent of the winnings (palisada) from each cockfight (soltada) is
contributed to the funerary coffers. The come-one-come-all invitation easily
spreads through the rural grapevine, and die-hard sabuñgeros come, many not to
grieve the dead but for the delight of the game.
Carambola is the occasional sabong sideshow - an entertainingly wild and zany
labo-labo event that pits six to sixteen or more cocks at one time, simultaneously
slashing-and-parrying until one cock remains standing. The winning owner claims
all the dead cocks plus the prize pot money.

Tari blade paraphernalia

Game Day

Sabong 101

Behind the scenes, on a sabong day, there is a busy activity of the game cocks
being paired (ulutan), owners intensely wary of the many dishonest, deceitful or
accidental ways an edge may be gained by the opposing cock. Surreptitiously, by
the swift and expert motion of a hand, a rib can be cracked, a wing disabled or a
leg sprained. A poisoned grain or niblet of food could be flicked to the opposing
cock's pecking space. Searching for an opponent, both sides look for parity or an
imagined edge, guided by experience and intuition, carefully doing a thorough
measure of his cock's chances through a visual of the opposing cock's breeding,
weight, stance, wing span, head size, beak length, plumage quality, and gameness.
When the acceptable pairing is found and agreed upon, the "tari" blade is
commissioned for attachment, usually to the left leg, and payment to be due only
if the cock wins. Even at this stage, an advantage may be lost, unintentional or by
collusion, with the 'blade man's" slight but critical maladjustment of the blade.
Stories are told of blades being impregnated with "poison" that may render the
opposing cock ineffective and compromised.

The Kristos

As soon the casador announces "Larga na!" the kristos take over. The arena erupts
into a deafening din of kristos calling out and taking in bets from the spectators,
their arms splayed Christ-like, flailing wildly in the air, beckoning bets, their hands
and fingers in a frenzy of motions and signals.

It is a fascinating display of memory, as some kristos, with their own system of

mnemonics, are known to take in as much as 8 to 10 or more bets.

For many kristos, the trade is their main livelihood. While they expect a 10%
service tip on winning bets - which they don't always get - they make nothing on
losing bets. But that is just part of their commerce. On the sidelines, there is a fast
and furious buying-and-selling of bets. Unbeknownst to bettors, many of the
kristos often get better odds on alleged "even" wagers, pocketing the difference
on winning bets. This can also be done in collusion with another kristo, the returns
divvied up at the end of the day.

Hand Signs Because of distance and the deafening noise, kristos rely on hand signs
to communicate their bets with other kristos. Knowing the arithmetic language of
fingers facilitates communication with your kristo and adds a fascinating facet to
the sabong experience. (1) Upward fingers: In small arenas, especially in the rural
and boondock hack fights where small bets are not uncommon, each finger
signals 10 pesos; five fingers, 50 pesos. In big cockpits or derby events, an upward
finger could mean 10,000 or 100,000 pesos. (2) Downward fingers: Each finger is
equivalent to a 1000-peso bet; 7 fingers, 7,000 pesos. Caution is given in pointing
the fingers downward twice, as this will be interpreted as a 14,000-peso bet. (3)
Sideward fingers: Each sideward finger is equivalent to 100 pesos. In the figure,
the four fingers denote 400 pesos.

In the cockpit (ruweda), the owners and cocks are assigned sides: MERON – for
the one with the larger pot-money bet or favored game cock, the sign lit-up
denoting llamado or favored status, and WALA, under an unlit sign, signifying
dejado or long shot. The cocks are allowed a short time and distance to walk, for
the betting spectators to observe stance, strut and gameness. Then the "casador"
announces the opposing bets and when needed solicits amounts from the
ringside bettors to equalize the bets. Then he shouts: Larga na! And spectator
betting starts. The "kristos," betting managers sacrilegiously named for their
Christ-like crucified stance, arms stretched out beckoning the spectators, taking
bets, their hands and fingers wild in the sign language of bets and odds. The noise
builds up to a din of deafening decibels. As the betting goes on, each cock is also
allowed to peck on the other's head (kulitan), each to anger the other and
maintain a level of aggressiveness.

Then the protective sheaths or wrapping on the tari blades are removed and
wiped clean with alcohol-impregnated cotton or cloth to remove any possible
poison. Then the cocks are released. Sometimes, they linger, circle, peck on the
ground, watchful, waiting, and measuring their opponent. More often, they
charged into each other, winging up into the air to a determined confrontation of
death. Then, in a blur and flurry of beating wings, parrying moves, and the midair
exchanges of lethal slashes of blade. Sometimes, it goes on for a minute or longer.
The din crescendos into deafening decibels. Every deadly slash, every graceful
parry elicits a cheer, moan, grunt or groan. Sometimes, victory is claimed on the
initial parry and slash, the deed of killing is accomplished in a mere five seconds,
as one cock lies, trembling and shaking to his death. Then, as suddenly, the noise
deflates into a buzz. The "sentensyador" (referee) picks up the cocks. The
victorious cock pecks twice on the vanquished, and when the pecks are not
returned, one cock is raised victorious.

Rarely, both the cocks die, and a "tabla" (tie) is called. Another uncommon
occurrence is when both are disabled by wounds, neither one able to inflict a
lethal slash, and after nine minutes, a tie or tabla is called.
To the owners, the loss is pecuniary, unemotional – there is no bonding between
cock and owner. These are, after all, mere sacrificial animals, whose main purpose
is to win, and to win as many before the inevitable death. An occasional cock may
be saved from the eventual death, retired as "ganador" to sire a bloodline of
genetic killers. To the rich, death is accepted with a shrug, and "on to the next
fight." To the masa, it is the all too familiar exercise of pondering the lost wages,
the "so close" and "what ifs," at the same time hoping his other gamecock will
turn his fortunes around. The vanquished cock is claimed by the winning side,
"sambot," destined to a pot of celebratory chicken concoction, usually tinola, to
serve as side dish to accompany the alcohol fueled recalling of the day's cockpit
adventure and the inevitable re-telling of favorite sabong stories.

Sabong is one incredible window to the Filipino culture. And if the intrepid
traveler should have the stomach to venture into one, rather than the sanitized
ambience of the big urban-suburban venues for the rich and burgis, go to a rural
cockpit, and be absorbed by the noise, by the people, by the thrilla-in-the-
ruweda, by this slice of fringe Filipiniana.

by Godofredo U. Stuart Jr.

Last modified: September 2014