In the spirit of fairness, judges for Dinagyang contests withheld
To eliminate doubts on the results of the Kasadyahan and Ati competition in this year's Dinagyang celebration, the judging committee will exercise confidentiality on the names of the 30 judges until the day of the competition which falls on Saturday and Sunday.
Dr. Roseller Cabado, events group head of the 2007 Dinagyang celebration, said the judging committee opted not to release or to make available the names of the judges for the competitions so that the competing tribes could not establish contact with any of the judges.
Cabado said this is to address the clamor of some competing tribes in previous celebrations that some of the tribe managers know the judges and were even asking favors from them.
The list of the judges's names is with Dr. Eden Deriada.
He said they have chosen 30 "competent and qualified judges" for the Kasadyahan and Ati competitions. Judges who have been part of the judging committee for two consecutive events were rejected. Fifteen of the judges will act as roving judges and the remaining 15 will be fielded in five different staging areas.
Cabado said they invited judges from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and local judges for the Kasadyahan and Ati competition. The judges whose integrity were questioned by Ilonggos in previous years were no longer invited by the judging committee.
Cabado said these set of judges are knowledgeable on the festival and have an eye on arts and culture. Some of the judges are considered as international figures when it comes to judging festivals. Meanwhile, the competence of the invited local judges are not far behind the other judges.
Other than the confidentiality of the names of judges, Cabado added that competing tribes will also be judged accordingly through street dancing. This is to give justice to the people who are waiting along the parade area and could not see their performances in judging areas.
The tribes must perform street dancing from Corner Valeria-Gen. Luna near the St. Paul Hospital overpass until Quezon-Delgado until Iznart near Semi-Tronic. The judges will rate the tribes in their street dancing, said Cabado.