No Pasigarbo 2024?

Feeling so frustrated and disappointed with what happened in the recent Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia said the 2024 edition of the annual festival, if there would be any, now hangs in the balance.

“Kung naa pa. Kung naa pa. Kay kung magsige ni og yawyaw ang mora ra ba og kamao, maypa wagtangon na lang. Ang 2024 remains to be. Remains to be, depende pa gyud ni kay actually frustrated gyud kaayo ko nga ana ra diay kasayon i-sabotahe,” Garcia said.

“Unya karon yaga-yagaan lang? So, maka-dismaya and even those that profited from this Pasigarbo, profited meaning pwerteng ginansiya sa choreography, artistic direction, production, ang mga costumes, wa maningog. Not even in defense na lang unta. Niapil pa, kabalo ko aning uban apil pa og panaway. It’s so frustrating really, such a disappointment,” she added.

She said that this is why he called on all the mayors, as she allegedly really feels how they feel.

“But I guess, we need to revisit and ato ning i-discuss og maayo kay kung ing-ana na lang ka ingrato kining mga nakaginansiya niining labihang dakoa kaayo nga festival, pwerte atong gibubu, aron sila dunay dakong negosyo, maka-negosyo og maayo unya dili gani maningog, para que? So, let’s not talk 2024 yet,” the governor said.

New set of winners

Garcia, in agreement with the city and municipal mayors, announced yesterday that the formal announcement of winners for Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2023 will be done on September 6.

The provincial government will declare the Top 15 contingents and Top 5 for the Mayor’s Introduction Video.

Originally, only Top 10 contingents were declared as winners while only one won in the Mayor’s Introduction Video.

For the winners in the Ritual Showdown and Festival Queen, only the judges scores will be considered.

The online voting will be disregarded in the name of fairness especially those contingents, whose performances suffered technical glitches.

Additional cash dangled

“At best, we will increase the number of prizes for the contingents, and I am also thinking of adding P1 million each to all of the 50,” Garcia said.

The governor also revealed that First Lady Liza AranetaMarcos, who attended the event, was so amazed of the mayor’s introductory videos that the first lady told the governor that the president will add another million to the winner.

Initially, the governor said that with the first lady’s approval, she decided that the P1 million prize will be divided into Top 5 winners or P200,000 each for the winners.

But Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura, who is the president of the League of Municipalities-Cebu Chapter, suggested that considering all the 50 local chief executives have exerted so much efforts in their introductory videos, it is best to divide the P1 million to the 50 mayors or at P20,000 each.

As for the awarding as Best in Float, instead of one winner, the province will award Top 5 in the said category.

She said the videos of the winners will be shown during the awarding instead of holding a repeat performance.

The governor said that the online raffles shall continue.

Technical glitches

The Sugbo News team, the provincial government’s media arm, has shown a compilation of footages of all the technical glitches that happened during the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2023 involving several contingents, including Mandaue City, who has to repeat its performance four times as well as Toledo City, whose performance was stopped in the middle due to such glitches.

Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes said that because of these “repeat performances,” 13 of the participants lost consciousness due to exhaustion.

Toledo Mayor Marjorie Perales said that the town’s contingents were emotionally drained as they were made to repeat their performance when the music stopped and the videos were out when the performers were at the height of their performance.

They also presented a graph allegedly of the online voting percentage by batch purportedly showing that the number of online voters continue to drop, allegedly because of the technical glitches.

Borbon Mayor Noel Dotillos also admitted to the governor that their festival queen was not able to perform as someone advised her not to dance anymore.

Stop the bickering

Carcar Mayor Patrick Barcenas, in the same meeting, pleaded to their constituents especially those from Carcar City, Toledo City, and Minglanilla to stop the online bickering among them.

“Ang atong panaghi-usa sama ta gisulayan. Pasalamat ko nga nahan-ay na ni,” Barcenas said adding, “akong gidasig ang tanan, mga dili maayong komentaryo, I hope maundang na na kay sa among inahan sa probinsiya, sa dakong respeto, nagkahusay na intawon mi diri.”

Based on the results of the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2023 on August 27, Minglanilla town is still the most awarded.

Its Sugat Kabanhawan Festival won second place in the Grand Ritual Showdown, Best in Festival Costume, second place in the street dancing competition, Best in Mayor’s Introduction, and second runner-up in the Festival Queen category.

Aside from winning the Pasigarbo’s Festival Queen 2023, the Carcar City contingents were declared the Grand Champion in the Ritual Showdown and Champion in Street Dancing.

While the Hinulawan Festival of Toledo City won third in the Ritual Showdown.