Meron & Wala

Meron & Wala.

FIGHTING, DEATH AND MONEY

This post is a graphic report on the world of cockfighting in Manila, Philippines, and is divided into 8 parts.

1. Roosters in the street

2. The training

3. The coliseum

4. The betting

5. The fight

6. The loser

7. The winner

8. The real winner

---

PART ONE

Roosters in the street

---

In Manila you can find roosters everywhere, there are children with roosters, roosters with children, roosters tied up, people tied to their roosters, on the railway tracks, on the seashore, in the rubbish, roosters transported on motorbikes, street roosters, roosters being looked after, cages of roosters, caged roosters...

---

PART TWO

Training

---

It is very normal to see people on the streets fighting their roosters to train them, so that they do not lack that bit of aggressiveness that they should have at the time of the fight.

---

PART THREE

Coliseum

---

Voices, lots of shouting in the coliseum, people with sad faces (they have just lost a cock) and others with happy faces as their cock has qualified for the next fight. A lot of people, a lot of blood, a lot of feathers and a lot of tension in the atmosphere.

---

PART FOUR

The stakes

---

Everyone shrieks and I find it hard to understand why. Meron or Wala is what they shout, Meron is one corner and Wala is the name of the other, it doesn't matter which cock is in one or the other, the statistics say you have a 50% chance of winning. The voices are to recognise who is betting the same amount as you in the opposite corner, I only hear noise but they seem to understand each other, although when you peep the understanding is a bit worse.

There is the bookie who is there for bigger bets (a lot) and to avoid bad acceptance when you lose your money because you bet on the losing cock.

Noise for two minutes and ecclesiastical silence when the fight starts.

---

PART FIVE

Fighting

---