Polibiz
Dinagyang, Pintados robbed in Aliwan Festival
The results of last week's Aliwan Festival 2006 in Manila continued to be the hot topic among festival habitués not only in Western Visayas but as well as all over the country.
And most experts did not agree that defending champion Pintados de Pasi wound up only second runner-up or third overall to the new champion Sinulog Festival of Cebu City and first runner-up Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City.
There were reports that the judges were allegedly "intimidated" by the presence of Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ace Durano who is a former congressman from Cebu and who allegedly secretly "lobbied" for Sinulog Festival to bag this year's overall championship from Pintados de Pasi or any other contingents for that matter.
As secretary of the DOT, Durano has the complete itinerary of festivals all over the world, including the world-famous Pasadena Parade in California and there were reports that the Philippines has been invited to perform in some international festivals this year.
Did Secretary Durano use his influence to dethrone Pintados de Pasi?
Many of those present during the competition of 28 festivals all over the country at the Quirino Grandstand swore the performance of Sinulog Festival was a repeat of their last year's choreography unlike the Pintados de Pasi and Dinagyang Festival, two groups from Panay island that enjoyed enormous financial support from their respective local government units (LGUs) and private sponsors, not to mention the all-out backing of their foundations.
This is not the first time that Secretary Durano has been accused of malfeasance in the performance of his duties and obligations as DOT chief.
Last year, he caused a furor among city officials here when the DOT committed a sin of omission by not including the Dinagyang Festival in the calendar of activities in its posters and campaign here and abroad.
The huge lapse even prompted the provincial board in Negros Oriental to declare Durano as persona non grata, an earthshaking event which was nearly repeated in Iloilo City had it not been for the leniency of Mayor Jerry P. Treñas who did not want to add fuel to the conflagration.
I know that everything that I will write here will now be water under the bridge, but there are lessons that must be learned from the recent Aliwan Festival.
But it is now difficult to file a protest because doing so might jeopardize our relationship with the prime festival mover Manila Broadcasting Company which has been diligently promoting the festival these past years sans substantial financial assistance from the government.
And besides, we have nothing to prove anymore as the audience believed the Ilonggo festival groups are the more artistic and creative, not to mention their alacrity and enthusiasm which was manifested when they introduced additional styles and techniques in running away with the runner-up plums.
We just hope that in next year's Aliwan Festival, Sec. Durano will be prudent enough to at least set aside his bias and watch out his body language so that people will not think that he is applying an arm-twisting tactic to favor a certain festival. Just a suggestion, no offense meant.