4 tribes bewail exclusion from Dinagyang subsidy
Four tribes in this year's Dinagyang festival will allegedly make a scene on the day of the competition, specifically at the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand, in protest of the policy of the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) over the release of subsidy on tribes.
IDFI executive chair Ben Jimena confirmed that they received such information regarding the plan of the disgruntled tribes. They are set to confront the tribe managers of Hamili, Himala, Bantu and Angola over the information. The tribe managers could not be reached for comment at press time over the information that is spreading all over the city.
Rumors spread that the four tribes, apparently disgruntled for not having received subsidy from IDFI, would try to cause embarrassment to city officials during the day of the competition.
IDFI, as a policy, only gives subsidy to the top fifteen tribes. The first ten are given P220,000 each while remaining five gets P165,000.
Jimena said since last year they made it clear that the city government will only give subsidy to the tribes that live up to their expectations in terms of the improvement of their performances as well as costumes and props.
Besides, Jimena said, the foundation and the city government could only afford to subsidize 15 tribes. The foundation never promised to give subsidy to tribes that ranked 16 down for the past three years of competition, he said.
Those tribes which are not given subsidy are allowed to look for their sponsors. They were also given the chance to prove their worth for the last three years, said Jimena.
He added should the tribes push through with their plans, the foundation will be constrained to effect disciplinary actions against them. The disciplinary action would even mean their expulsion from Dinagyang tribes competition. They should remember that last year, the foundation and all the tribe managers signed a memorandum of agreement with the foundation.
They conformed to obey the rules and policies of the foundation regarding the subsidy and other related issues in the tribes competition, said Jimena.