JILILUCK Ulutan Meaning: How Birds Are Paired Before a Fight

E-sabong operations have been suspended nationwide since 2022: Executive Order No. 9, signed on 28 December 2022 by President Marcos Jr., directs their continued suspension, and cockfights in licensed cockpits are not covered by it. Ulutan meaning is the first thing to get straight when you read a fight-day programme, because it names the pairing of birds that comes before any bout. This page sets it inside the wider cockfighting law of the Philippines so you know which part is custom and which part is written in PD 449.

Ulutan meaning in plain words

Ulutan is the matching of one gamecock against another. The word belongs to the cockpit floor: owners bring birds, and the matchmaker pairs them so that each bout is an even contest of class and build.

Nothing in PD 449 uses the word, because the decree describes the people and the places rather than the vocabulary. The decree’s Section 4(a) says cockfighting means the commonly known game or term “cockfighting derby, pintakasi or tupada”, or its equivalent terms in different Philippine localities. Ulutan is one of those local terms for a step inside that game.

Where ulutan sits in the order of a fight day

A fight day runs in a fixed order that the cockpit repeats every time. The sequence below is the usual shape by custom, and the exact timing is the cockpit’s own.

1. Owners register their birds with the cockpit.
2. Birds are inspected and sorted by class, which is why the bullstag, stag and cock age classes matter before anything else.
3. Ulutan: the matchmaker pairs birds of matching class and build.
4. The licensed gaffer arms each bird.
5. The referee oversees the fight and announces the winner, a tie or a no contest.

The step that surprises newcomers is number 3. It is quiet, it happens off the ring, and by the time the crowd sees a pair the ulutan is already done.

Who does the ulutan

PD 449 Section 7 says gaffers, referees and bet takers or promoters may not act as such without a licence renewable every year from the city or municipality where the cockfighting is held. The decree does not list a matchmaker as a licensed official, so who runs the ulutan is the cockpit’s own arrangement.

Section 6 gives city and municipal mayors the power to license cockpits, and Section 5(d) says cockfighting is allowed only in licensed cockpits on Sundays, legal holidays and during local fiestas for not more than three days. Ask the cockpit’s office who handles matching, and read the posted licence on the wall before you take a seat.

Ulutan, meron and wala on the same card

Once the pair is made, the two birds are given sides, and that is where the words people hear most often come in. The side terms are explained in full on the page about wala meaning and its partner meron.

A worked example from the vocabulary alone: the matchmaker pairs a bullstag from owner A with a bullstag from owner B. After the ulutan, the programme lists them as a numbered pair, and the cockpit’s crowd calls the sides by name. The pairing came first, the naming of sides came second.

1. Two bullstags are registered.
2. The ulutan pairs them.
3. The programme numbers the pair.
4. The crowd names the sides, meron and wala.