We have already sent our formal letter of complaint to the "powers that be" in Naga City. I hope that is the end of it. I really do not want to hurt anyone but I believe our thoughts should be heard. Here is a copy of the letter we have sent to Naga City. Just read on...
18 September 2006
HON. ATTY. MILES RAQUID ARROYO
City Councilor and Over-All Chairman
Military Street Parade Competition
Naga City
THRU: MR. VICENTE S. AVILA
Project Director and Chairman
Secretariat and Rules and Regulations
Dear Madam,
Greetings of Peace and Prosperity!
First, we would like to extend our warm congratulations for a very successful Regional Penafrancia Fiesta Military Street Parade Competition. Through our hard work, our school was able to garner awards for our participating contingents, specifically: 1st Place for our WATC Unit, Second Place for our Sponsors, 5th Place for our ROTC Unit, 2nd Place for Most Disciplined ROTC Unit, and 4th Place for our University Band. We are truly grateful for this opportunity to show the whole Bicolandia what the University of Northeastern Philippines is capable of as an educational institution and molder of values.
At the onset, we would like you to know that we honor and believe in the integrity of the competition and we have no intention to besmirch the reputation of the most prestigious Military Parade Competition in the whole Bicol Region. However, it is with great regret that we write to you this letter to express our vehement protest over what transpired during the Military Parade last 15 September 2006 on the occasion of Naga City’s celebration of the 2006 Penafrancia Festivities. It is of great surprise to our Institution to find out that after the hard work and effort of our University Majorettes, we were not rated as a competing participant in your prestigious competition.
We would like to start our narration of facts by stating why we did not participate in the Category 1 Level of the Competition despite the entry of our Commandant as such. Our institution’s CAT Unit has always been categorized under Category 2. Annually, except last year, we have always submitted our entry under Category 2. Through our Commandant, we have expressed our desire to be included under Category 2. However, our request was verbally denied by Mr. Vicente Avila, telling us that the Order of Parade and the Invitations has already been sent out and the entry can no longer be changed. On this reason, we have decided not to participate in the Category 1 Level and instead concentrate our efforts in the Category 3 Level.
On the day of the Military Parade, our school representatives on stage were already at the Plaza Quezon Grand Stand by around 6:30 in the morning. The undersigned was able to arrive at around 7:00 AM. The parade has not even started yet when the undersigned was asked by Mr. Carlo Oliva, Jr. if we will participate in Category 1. He told the undersigned that they are currently checking and counter-checking the attendance of the participants in the competition. The undersigned expressly mentioned that our school will participate only in Category 3 and that we are truly not going to participate in Category 1. The undersigned believes Mr. Oliva immediately informed those on the field of this information through radio and Mr. Benny Decena, the official emcee, who was just beside him.
Later on, during the course of the parade, another young man in a yellow chaleco approached the undersigned and confirmed the information which she already relayed to Mr. Oliva. The undersigned confirmed the information and thought no more of the incident.
Much later, after the announcement of the winners, our school representatives felt the need to inquire as to the performance of our University Majorettes. Our school did not win. We admit that it came as a surprise to us, but the main reason why we inquired is for us to assess the veracity of our loss and in the process maybe improve ourselves by knowing our weaknesses.
With great surprise, we learned that the judges never gave us any grade. We were not rated. On further inquiry, we were told that the judges did not give us a score because we were not present in the supposedly “FIRST PASS” of our University Majorettes and University Band in Category 1. It truly perplexed us because our University Band, under the same circumstances, whose “FIRST PASS” was under Category 3, was given a rating and in fact won 4th place. We cannot attribute this to anything but to the negligence of the event organizers.
We cannot hide the fact that this had truly upset us. We came all the way from Iriga City. Our school spent hundreds of thousands of pesos to show our best performance in the competition. Our University Majorettes practiced day and night just to master their steps. There is so much commitment and dedication, not to mention sacrifice, just to give their best, yet all has come to naught due to the negligence of the organizing committee.
We would just like it to be clear that we are not belittling the efforts of other schools. We are sure that all participating schools had also sacrificed in the same manner, though maybe in varying degrees, and it is due to this fact that we believe that the organizers should exercise more prudence and justice in carrying out their functions.
To us, this competition, contrary to what Mr. Vicente Avila told us, is not the winning of a mere trophy or medal. It is the prestige and honor that this competition will bring to the University if we win. The organizers should realize that the participating schools spend, even without any cash reward associated with the competition, because they understand the exposure, honor and prestige that this competition entails.
Truly, it is pitiful that no less than the Project Director of this event thinks so lowly of his own competition. For us, this is THE COMPETITION for our ROTC, WATC, Sponsors, Band and Majorettes. We aim for this because it is a manifestation of the values of discipline, hard work, commitment and unity and we believe that winning this competition confirms that as an Institution we have indeed succeeded in imparting these values to our students.
We have always told our students that it is not important if we win, what is important is that they give their best to perform well in the competition. It would not have mattered to us if we lost fair and square, but we were not even rated so how could we have truly lost? It would have been a different story if we saw in the score sheets that we had low scores but fact is, and the undersigned has personally seen it, that the spaces for the scores were left blank.
Our Institution is not new to losing. For several years, we make ourselves contented with what has been awarded to us despite rumors of rigging in the competition. We just do our best to make sure that we play fair and square. We do not employ professional dancers to perform as majorettes. We do not employ professional musicians to perform as part of our Band. All the members of our contingent are bonafide students of our school.
We do not ask much, but an acknowledgement of the negligence of the organizers of the Military Parade. I believe that we deserve no less considering the hard work of our majorettes and the honor of our school. We are duty bound to exercise our right to voice out our protest and this is why we have decided to inform you of our complaint.
On our part, we believe that we have informed the organizing committee properly. This is even boldly confirmed by two facts: first, that our University Band was scored as it should have been and second, we were not announced as a contingent in the Category 1 Level. The announcer on stage immediately called on Participant No. 65 after Participant No. 63 in Category 1, which means that they are aware that we are not participating in Category 1. Clearly, our University Band was rated, but our University Majorettes were not. To our mind, what happened is a result of the negligence of the organizers, something that is truly surprising considering the number of people with radios, cellphones and other communication equipment on the site.
Furthermore, granting that we were suddenly classified as a non-competing participant, still we should have been rated for it is stated in the Guidelines, Paragraph No. 11 “NON COMPETING UNIT will also be rated for record and reference purposes only by the committee & judges”.
What we ask is more prudence and forethought, a recognition that this is a serious competition that should not be treated lightly. The organizers should not toy with the efforts of the participating schools because the schools participate with all their fervor, investing time, resources and people. We truly cannot understand how this could happen after all the years that the organizers were conducting this event. The undersigned has been watching this annual competition since she was in Grade School and the organizers are still the same people who are in charge of carrying out the event. We cannot understand how despite of all those years of experience, this unfair and unjust act can happen.
We have decided that as an institution, we shall honor your decision but this does not prevent us from making our thoughts on the matter heard by the general public. We believe, that like us, they deserve an explanation and a threshing out of all the issues that has cropped up in this competition.
The undersigned has always emphasized that it is not the trophies and medals that makes us winners but our hard work, dedication and commitment to do our best and play fair and square under all circumstances. We still believe in the competition, for in fact, we are once again starting to plan our participation in next year’s competition, but if these issues will not be discussed and once again swept under the rug, we are sorry to inform you that we will no longer participate in a competition that is riddled with doubt and dishonesty.
We believe that our participation in the competition have vested us with a right to be rated and this right has been violated by the negligence of the organizers. It is on this right that we anchor our protest. We also believe that this right should be upheld by a thorough investigation into what has transpired and that the persons responsible are sanctioned accordingly.
Furthermore, we call for an analysis and evaluation of the rules, regulation and guidelines governing the competition. We call for a more transparent and professional conduct of the event. We call for a threshing out of all the issues that has been swept under the rug throughout the years that this competition was conducted. We demand integrity, honesty and justice. We want change and we believe that as a participant in this prestigious competition we deserve no less.
With much gratitude, we look forward to a favorable resolution of the issues our school has raised here. Furthermore, we look forward to a better, much improved event next year.
Sincerely yours,
ATTY. REMELISA G. ALFELOR
University President
Copy Furnished:
HON. JESSE M. ROBREDO
Mayor, Naga City
HON. GERRY BORDADO
Vice-Mayor, Naga City
HON. MILES RAQUID-ARROYO
Councilor and Over-all Chairman
Regional Military Street Parade Competition
MR. VICENTE AVILA
Project Director
Regional Military Street Parade Competition
