HAGATNA, Guam (AP)\u2014A judge in the U.S. territory of Guam has ruled against a local businessman\u2019s attempt to continue cockfighting despite a new American law banning it. <\/p>\n
U.S. District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan Jr. denied Sefrey Linsangan\u2019s motion for a preliminary injunction against the new prohibition, the Pacific Daily News reported Friday. <\/p>\n
Linsangan, described in court papers as a business owner involved in \u201cgamefowl raising and competition\u201d for 40 years, argued the ban was unconstitutional. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not only part of his culture, custom and tradition but also a hobby, pastime, exercise and sport,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump last year signed a law banning all animal fighting in the U.S. territories. The law took effect on Friday. Prior to the law, cockfighting had been illegal in the 50 states but not U.S. territories. <\/p>\n
The federal ban went into effect last Dec. 20 (Dec. 21 in the CNMI)<\/p>\n
The judge wrote that Linsangan failed to show how the federal ban deprives him of \u201clife, liberty, or property without due process of law.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said Linsangan didn\u2019t show that enacting the cockfighting ban discriminated against him or any person on account of his race, language or religion. Manibusan said the law applies uniformly throughout the 50 states and territories.<\/p>\n
He said he sympathized with the argument that the people of Guam have been disenfranchised because the territory\u2019s residents aren\u2019t allowed to vote for president, nor are they allowed to elect voting members of Congress. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe remedy for such disenfranchisement lies within the political, not judicial, process,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
PR to defy ban<\/strong><\/p>\n On Wednesday, Gov. Wanda V\u00e1zquez of Puerto Rico, another U.S. territory, signed a bill authorizing cockfighting in defiance of the federal ban in a bid to protect a 400-year-old tradition practiced across the island.<\/p>\n The measure says it is legal for Puerto Rico to host cockfights as long as people don\u2019t export or import cocks or any goods or services related to cockfighting. <\/p>\n The move brought cautious rejoicing in the cockfighting business.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are certainly challenging a federal law. We know what that implies,\u201d Rep. Gabriel Rodr\u00edguez Aguil\u00f3, who co-authored the bill, told the AP.<\/p>\n He said that V\u00e1zquez was scheduled to sign the bill Wednesday morning and that he expected the fight to end up in federal court.<\/p>\n As word spread, those in the cockfighting industry cheered the news.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be work!\u201d exclaimed Domingo Ruiz, who owns more than 30 cocks and has spent more than half a century in the business. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep the fight alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Cockfighting generates an estimated $18 million a year and employs some 27,000 people, according to the bill approved by Puerto Rico\u2019s House and Senate. <\/p>\n Puerto Rico has 71 cockfighting establishments in 45 municipalities licensed by the island\u2019s Department of Sports and Recreation, said Secretary Adriana S\u00e1nchez. She defended the cockfighting tradition and contended the U.S. government banned fights for economic and not animal welfare reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir instinct is to fight,\u201d she said of people in the business. \u201cThe people who dedicate themselves care for them and train them.\u201d<\/p>\n Animal rights activists have long pushed to end cockfights in U.S. territories, saying they are cruel and noting they are illegal in all 50 U.S. states.<\/p>\n Wayne Pacelle, founder of the Washington- based Animal Wellness Action, said he doesn\u2019t believe the statistics on Puerto Rico cockfighting.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are widely exaggerating the economic value,\u201d he said. \u201cWatching animals slash each other just for human entertainment and gambling is not judged as a legitimate enterprise by mainstream people.\u201d<\/p>\n The measure says it is legal for Puerto Rico to host cockfights as long as people don\u2019t export or import cocks or any goods or services related to cockfighting. The latter actions would violate the federal law, based on how Puerto Rico officials interpret it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt remains to be seen whether that\u2019s how federal authorities understand it,\u201d said Rep. Luis Vega Ramos.<\/p>\n Vega sought unsuccessfully to amend the measure to add authorization for local officials to not cooperate with federal agents in prosecuting people for cockfighting. But several municipalities, including the capital of San Juan, have authorized municipal police not to crack down on cockfighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HAGATNA, Guam (AP)\u2014A judge in the U.S. territory of Guam has ruled against a local…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[51,711],"class_list":["post-314585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-guam","tag-pr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}