IDFI exec downplays Silak plaint
Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) executive director Ben Jimena downplayed the complaint of the choreographer of Tribu Silak, the first runner-up in the recently concluded Dinagyang ati competition, regarding the result of the contest.
Jimena said it is stipulated in the rules of the contest that the decision of the judges is final and unappealable.
Ronnie Barreta, senior choreographer of Tribu Silak of the Iloilo City National High School complained over dyOK Aksyon Radyo Thursday that they were unfairly treated by a certain judge in the dance showdown.
He claimed that had the judge been fair to the tribe they could have emerged as the overall champion.
Tribu Silak was last year's champion but was dethroned by Tribu Ilonganon of the Jalandoni Memorial National High School in this year's contest.
Jimena said in every contest it is normal that there will always be complaint regarding the results of judging.
Jimena said three judges for the dance showdown and three judges for the street dance competitions were fielded in the five judging areas. The judges elected among themselves a chairman of the board which presides in the deliberation of the results. The judges employed a ranking system, raw scores were converted to ranks with the highest score rank of number 1.
In the overall results of the tabulation, Tribu Ilonganon has a weighted rank of 36.30 while Tribu Silak has 38.50. It is followed by Tribu Bola-Bola with a weighted rank of 41.20. The results of the tabulation were certified by Roberto Pison, a certified accountant, Dr. Danilo Encarnacion of the judging and tabulation committee and Dr. Henry Gonzales, over-all chairman of the judging and tabulation committee.
Jimena said there was no error on the tabulations of results. He said they could not demand from the judges on how to score or rank the tribes. Each judge has his or her own style of judging.
However, Jimena said that they will take into consideration the observations of Barreta on the way the judges scored the participating tribes.
The executive director vouched on the credibility of the judges being members of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).