CEBU CITY – The owner of the sounds and lights company that the Cebu provincial government contracted for last Sunday’s “Pasigarbo sa Sugbo” festival has apologized for the technical glitches that hampered the event.
THE Carcar City contingent performs during the ritual showdown of the ‘Pasigarbo sa Sugbo’ festival on Sunday, August 29, at the Carcar City Sports Complex. (Capitol PIO)
While he was apologetic, Isidro Alberca, owner of Alberca Sounds & Lights, denied Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia’s allegations that they sabotaged the event.
“Wala gyud ko magbuhat nimo ug dautan, wala gyud nako sabotahea ang show (I did not do anything wrong. I did not sabotage the show),” Alberca said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, August 29.
The performances of some of the 50 contingents in the ritual showdown were delayed because of repeated technical glitches.
At least 15 glitches were recorded in which dancing members of some of the contingents stopped in the middle of their performance when the sound system suddenly malfunctioned.
Carcar City, where the owner lives, emerged the biggest winner in the competition after it was crowned champion in the ritual showdown and street dancing competitions.
Alberca’s daughter was also named Pasigarbo Festival Queen.
His failure to disclose that his daughter was one of the Pasigarbo Festival Queen candidates was unethical, Garcia said.
Because of the technical glitches, the governor has announced that the province will redo a computation of the results.
Garcia told the mayors of the participating local government units to expect some changes in the results.
Amid the controversy, Alberca appealed to the governor to also listen to their side on the issue.
“Gov. Gwen, sorry gyd kaayo nimo pero paminawa pod tawon akong side. Malooy pod tawon ka namo (Gov. Gwen, I’m very sorry but please listen to us also. Have mercy on us Gov. Gwen),” said Alberca.
Alberca said the technical glitches may have been caused by logistical difficulties.
He said the stage setup at the Carcar City Sports Complex had to be changed multiple times.
“Kabalo gyd ka unsa akong gibuhat sa Pasigarbo, unsay effort akong gihatag ani nga setup nga ma ok ang tanan. I hope masabtan pod unta unsa among kahago sa pag balhin balhin sa set up. Ug sayod ang tanan na unsa kapait among nasinati atong tima (You know what we did for Pasigarbo, the effort that we exerted to make sure that the setup will be properly installed. I hope you will understand our hard work when we had to repeatedly change the setup and everyone knows how difficult the situation for us that time),” Alberca said.