Jimena vents vs local media, church, Liga, tribes
Jimena
Where can you find not colorblind members of the local press yet insist on seeing brown as black, Catholic priests seemingly oblivious to other religious sectors, purportedly-demanding barangay captains of the city and supposedly over-bearing tribe officials? The answer? Right here in Iloilo City.
Or so it seems if Iloilo City Tourism Officer Benito Jimena is to be heard.
Executive Director of the Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Incorporated, Jimena has now lengthily (and publicly) spoke of the foundation's handling of this year's Dinagyang Festival. The biggest tourism event for Iloilo and Western Visayas, Jimena laid down his post-Dinagyang assessment in a piece entitled "Facing the music."
Same piece he would also later hint as the possible "swan song" for his group.
A concerted effort, Jimena wrote of this year's success which he attributed to media, Church, tribes, business groups and the government. The media, he added, played a major role thus the "major actor" in the festival's celebration.
The liturgical activities, he continued, were "planned within the bounds and in accordance with the doctrine of the Church." The tribes, Jimena acknowledged, gave "all their best." In fact, in his words, "a whole lot of them were exceptionally splendid."
All in all, Jimena had six paragraphs of positive assessment that opened his piece, a copy of which was published in full in yesterday's The News Today (TNT). It was then followed by 13 paragraphs all containing Jimena's "not-so-good" say about the festival's partners – the local media, the Catholic Church, the tribes and the city's barangay captains.
An attribution was also made on this year's sponsors termed by Jimena as "a little bit difficult with some of the big companies being too hot to handle." Difficulty recognized, it was disclosed that to date funds remain uncollected yet no fear, "agreements have already been signed and payments are in the pipe lines."
Gist of Jimena's piece though were on "kinks" that he said "stained the celebration." Such as he stated how handling the festival was "a thankless job" with his group "disenchanted with the response they got from other sectors." Same group, he said, who seemed to have not appreciated the efforts of the foundation.
Jimena then went on to address the body-paint issue which he said caused unhappiness to "some members of the local media." Same group who allegedly tried to block what is not black "and insisting that the Ati is black."
Jimena in putting closure to the issue remarked, "The resistance was not because they are colorblind but may be because for once they failed to prove their power to influence decisions."
As for the Church and the clergy's insistence of balance in the promotion of Senor Sto. Niño and Dagoy the official mascot, Jimena said, "It was like emphasizing that religiosity means never having to say that others also exist."
And the members of the Association of Tribes in Iloilo (ATI)? Jimena noted the "restless and impatient" ones here who he said had a lot of complaints. What the group did, he added, was "always hoping that the foundation would have lapses in policy implementation. Short of blackmail, they have threatened to boycott the contest."
With that, Jimena suggested, "They should change their name to Association of Tribes in Iloilo City so that their acronym would be more descriptive of their actions." The acronym he was referring to would have been "ATIC," a local word meaning haughty.
A lengthy explanation was also made on the issue with the city's barangay captains with a great part of his piece dedicated to it.
Jimena laid down the foundation's justification on the reserved seats fiasco and the stage aimed at eliminating illegal stage structures. He decried what he said was the claim of the barangay captains for the sole privilege on these.
"But there was nothing automatic about verbal agreements especially in different situations," he said.
"Still, the men and women of IDFI remain resolved to face these tests, to carry on their mandates with honor and integrity and to make good their commitment to bring Dinagyang to higher ground," Jimena ended with his last note, "But this could be their swan song."