Sabonghan Aquino Coliseum

For some, Sunday is church day. For others, however, Sunday is above all Sabong day. 'Sabong' is the Philippine variant of cockfighting, a sport that is mainly practised in parts of South East Asia, Latin America and also a few countries in Europe. Today we went to the Aquino Coliseum, one of many sabonghans in the Philippines where men (and some women) spent their Sunday afternoons betting on cockfights. Men who breed and train roosters for such fights are called 'sabongeros' and it is almost endearing to see how dedicated they are to their prize-winning roosters (it is sometimes said that a sabongero whose house catches fire will let his entire belongings go up in flames if that means being able to save his roosters). There is a lively ambiance in the sabonghan. If you want to place a bet you have to look for someone who is betting on the other rooster for an equal amount of money. For a few minutes, everyone is making gestures and looking around to find a match with another gambler. When two people agree they makes signs to the bettakers who are known to have incredible skills for remembering faces and the amount of money at stake. Because of this almost supernatural talent, they are called 'Kristos'.

After the betting, the duel begins. For the animal activists among my friends, I must confess that this is quite cruel and bloody (at least from our point of view). A sharp, pointy piece of metal is attached to the rooster's leg and some fights are over in just a few seconds if one roosters deals out a deadly blow immediately. If you lost your bet, you simply throw your money to your betting partner (this is one of the reasons why peso notes are almost always frumbled pieces of paper). The winning sabongero takes the opponent's dead rooster home where the lady of the house will turn it into a celebratory meal.

Funny detail: there are even some commercial 'doping' products available to make roosters perform better in the sabong. One of the brands - I'm not joking - is called 'Thunderbird'. Less funny detail: some of our neighbours are sabongeros, so every morning around five o'clock we are treated to a royal concert of roosters crowing as loud as they can. Mom, I can't thank you enough for buying those ear plugs...