Fighting Chickens!

I have been writing much about hospitality in these pages, specifically praising the Philippines for being the champs of this.  Perhaps a specific example is in order.  One morning I was looking for a place to have breakfast.  I was in Boracay, the beautiful but very overpriced beach resort with "the most beautiful beach in Asia" (I will write about this in the next webpage) and, as many of the restaurants are comically overpriced, I looked for a cheap option.  Nestled in between expensive resorts was a family compound with just a few tents and huts, and they sell fruit and precooked food.

I ordered some pansit (Filipino noodles), which was priced at 15 pesos (30 US cents), and coffee for 10 pesos.  While eating I started talking to the father, a guy named Renatto (photo right) and we really hit it off.  While talking I ordered another portion of pansit, but he also gave me some rice.  This is usually worrisome to me, for in lame countries sometimes people "give" you things but then charge you for them after:  I had a really awkward occurrence of this in Cambodia.  Anyway, then he gave me a whole fish, and I got even more worried, but as this is the Philippines, I figured it was worth the risk, so I enjoyed the fish.
Me and my friend Renatto.
click to enlarge

Somehow the subject of cockfighting ("sabong" in Tagalog language) came up, and he was so delighted that I like cockfighting that took me out back to show me all of his "fighting chickens", of which he had atleast 40.  He proudly displayed the ones that had won fights before (they were resting up for a future fight), and showed me the special types of feed he gives the chickens (often more expensive than the food Filipinos give their kids).  Also, he spoke of injections and steroids, which I read that they also give to the chickens.  Then he invited me to go with him at 1pm later that day to the local cockpit - he was going to enter two of his chickens that day.

Getting invited to things like that (and weddings, funerals, birthday parties, etc.) is a special priveledge and a chance to really see the true society, so I accepted.  Upon leaving I preceeded to pay for breakfast ... not only did he not charge me for the extra rice and fish, but he didn't accept any money at all.  I tried to pay but he just didn't take it.  So I went off to the beach and also went for a hike, but carefully managed my time to be back by 1pm.  Sure enough he was ready to go.  Someone had already gone ahead with the chickens so the two of us took a motorcycle taxi.  Again, I tried to pay but he didn't let me.  We went into the place, consisting of a couple of levels of grandstands and about 200 screaming Filipino men (there was two other tourists as well), surrounded by people selling refreshments.  On the sides of the cockpit there were circles of men with their chickens agreeing on which chickens were going to fight later.

I soon realized that Renatto isn't just a hokey peasent with his chicken ... he had a whole team of people there, five people atleast, including his two sons, doing various tasks, while he sturtted around like a kingpin.  Before his chickens fought we watched the action together, and I even bet twice (Renatto advised Me) and won both times (total winnings: 400 pesos = 8 bucks).  So I stopped betting and just enjoyed the scene.  It was difficult to take photographs, and Renatto didn't want any photos taken of his chickens being prepared.  But I did get a few videos of the whole processes.  See the videos below:

Click for video 1:  The betting
  7seconds, .AVI format, 1.17 megabyte
Often more amusing and intense than the fight itself is the betting that goes on beforehand.  They bring out the chickens, yell out the odds, and then there is a flurry of yelling and shouting.  The bets are large, particularly when compared to local wages.  There is a whole heirarchy of bookies taking bets and manipulating the odds, which was hard to figure out for the layperson like me.
 Click for video 2:  The prepping
  5seconds, .AVI format, 850 kilobyte
Before they fight a sharp blade is carefully attached to the left leg (Renatto had someone for this task - he was also the doctor for the postfight birds).  Once the chickens are ready they must be prepped in order to get the really mad and ready for a fight.  So the handlers hold the chickens and have them peck at each other several times till they are really pissed off.  Sometimes they use a third chicken (who looks like the opponent) to additionaly rile up the fighting chicken.  Renatto's youngest son was in charge of this job. 		Click for video 3:  The release
  20seconds, .AVI format, 3.13 megabyte
Once all of the bets are made, and the chickens are really ready for a fight they are carefully released and the action begins.  Some fights are pretty quick (20 seconds or so), but sometimes they really drag on.  From afar the fights were benign looking, but upon closer inspection they were extremely brutal.  Blood would gush out of wounds, or mouths, and once I saw the intestines of a chicken hanging out of a abdominal impalement.  A winner is declared when the other chicken makes no attempt to fight back - it is given three chances at this.
 Click for video 4:  Still Fighting
  9seconds, .AVI format, 1.44 megabyte
Yes, I know you are all thinking how uncharacteristic this is for me - I really love animals.  I can only say that the combination of respecting a local culture (regardless of good or bad), and lots of lost sleep, makes it seem ok for me to enjoy.  The Philippines government has tried to eliminate cockfighting, saying it is "a useless vice, cruel to animals".  True enough - Filipinos waste lots of money on the whole thing, and it is quite cruel.  But it is a national passion and isn't going to end for centuries.

Back to the hospitality part.  Yes, it was a very amusing way to spend the afternoon.  I got hot so Renatto bought me a soda, and, again, he refused to let me pay.  He fought two chickens that day, and both won, netting him around 7000 pesos (140 dollars, alot of money in the Philippines).  Eventually we parted for the day, but he found me a motortaxi and made sure I knew the Philipino price, so as not to get cheated.  I came by for breakfast the next day (just before leaving town) to thank him, show his family all of my family photos, and they pulled out the family photo album - mostly photos of their wedding.  This was a really touching experience also.  I snapped a photo of his wonderful family (click for photo), and then his son took another one of me with the rest of them (click for photo).  We said our goodbyes, and I bought some food for the road.  This time they let me pay for some of the food, but still gave me free coffee, bread, a bunch of bananas, some oranges, and a mango for my bus trip.  We exchanged addresses and I was off.  A perfect experience, and, more than anything else, this is the reason I still love travelling.