A partylist lawmaker on Thursday denied engaging in online cockfighting, or e-sabong, after a video surfaced online showing him watching what appeared to be a cockfight on his mobile phone during the election for Speaker of the House of Representatives on Monday.

The DAILY TRIBUNE, which first reported the incident, stood by its story, stating: “The congressman was caught watching e-sabong on his phone while votes were being cast for the Speaker of the House.”

The newspaper added that “AGAP Partylist Rep. Nicanor M. Briones is requested to review the said post.”

Addressing a remark by Briones that appeared to be directed at the media: “Huwag mo nang uulitin, baka sa susunod makulong ka na” (Don’t do it again; next time you might end up in jail), DAILY TRIBUNE responded that it “adheres to its journalistic credo to report the facts and to deliver the truth ‘without fear, without favor.’”

Briones, of the agricultural sector partylist AGAP, rejected the suggestion that he was gambling, telling reporters in an interview yesterday that the video had been misinterpreted. He maintained that what he was viewing was not a cockfight but a common form of rooster training.

“Is that the one where roosters fight without blades and it’s not held in an actual cockpit? I think they call it practice sabong, where you test your roosters,” Briones said in Filipino.

He insisted he does not go to cockfights or frequent cockpits and invited the public to verify any claims about him. The video, he said, was forwarded to him via a messaging app by a relative.

“I checked to see what it was and it turned out we were being invited to join a traditional cockfight. That’s why it was shown to me, so I got curious about what was in the Messenger message, and that’s why I looked,” he explained.

No GCash

Briones said he had shown the video to members of the media, arguing that it was not evidence of betting or gambling.

He expressed frustration over being filmed without his knowledge and called the story about him “fake news.”

“I don’t even know how to do that. I don’t have GCash or any kind of online cash transfer that I can use. I don’t know how it works, so I wish I had at least been asked about it first, instead of immediately being accused of gambling through online sabong,” he said in Filipino.

He called the recording a violation of the Data Privacy Act and slammed what he described as a rush to judgment.

“I was waiting for the person to admit that it was me they were referring to, because that’s a serious violation of my rights. It’s something that shouldn’t be meddled with,” he said.