CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The coronation night of the Miss Cagayan de Oro 2023 at the Limketkai Atrium on Saturday night, August 26, was marred by a brief power outage.
A POWER outage mars the coronation night of the Miss Cagayan de Oro 2023 at Limketkai Atrium on Saturday, August 26. (Photo courtesy of Laurence Geralde, Bombo Radyo Cagayan de Oro)
A candidate was on her way out of the stage during the swimsuit presentation when the lights went off.
The competition resumed after over 40 minutes.
Netizens on Facebook commented on the issue, asking, "Where is the generator?"
They speculated that the outage was due to some power interruption in the area.
"I was about to say, Wow, the (city government) really prepared the pageant because it has a bigger budget since there are some artists, and here it goes, there is no generator," a netizen said in her comment in a Facebook post about the matter published by a media news outlet here.
A netizen who also commented in the same Facebook post stressed the importance of having a backup plan to ensure the continuity of the event.
Another netizen said the issue was embarrassing for the guests and non-city residents.
Councilor Jay Pascual, chairman of the city council tourism committee, told reporters during the event that the fuse box blew up, resulting in the loss of power.
This means that the issue was not due to a power interruption, he said.
MISS Cagayan de Oro 2023 second runner-up Hannah Marie Carpenter of Barangay 17 (left), first runner-up Katheryn Guipetacio of Barangay Lapasan (second from left), Miss Cagayan de Oro 2023 Vince Geophra Tormis of Barangay Macasandig (center), third runner-up Kathleen Ubanan of Barangay Iponan (second from right), and fourth runner-up Angel Junalyn Colima of Barangay Kauswagan (right). (Photo courtesy of the Cagayan de Oro City Information Office)
"Our technical team has fixed the issue; that’s why it took a little bit of time. It was being overlooked because of the sound system, lights, and LED wall," Pascual said.
The legislator assured that the city government will do its best to address the issue and that this incident will not happen again in next year’s Miss Cagayan de Oro.
Despite this, Pascual considered the event successful.
However, city Councilor James Judith II said he wants to look further into the issue by making a special report in the next city council session to determine the cause and avoid the same issue at future big events here.
"The said setup is not really prepared for the said event," Judith said in a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin on Sunday, August 27, adding that city Mayor Rolando Uy didn’t have lapses in allocating budget for the major event.
Judith also echoed a netizen’s comment that the technical problem was embarrassing, considering that there were Korean visitors during the event.
The power outage did not prevent people from online and inside the venue from enjoying the coronation and supporting their favorite candidates in the pageant.
Vince Geophra Tormis from Barangay Macasandig was crowned as this year’s Miss Cagayan de Oro.
Barangay Lapasan candidate Katheryn Guipetacio was first runner-up, Hannah Marie Carpenter of Barangay 17, second runner-up; Kathleen Ubanan of Barangay Iponan, third runner-up, and Angel Junalyn Colima of Barangay Kauswagan, fourth runner-up.
Twelve candidates competed in this year’s pageant.