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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Telecom company yanked out of floral float tilt
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
DAVAO City Tourism Officer Edmundo "Id" Acaylar on Monday said the entry of Smart Communications in the Kadayawan float parade competition this coming Sunday was denied as a result of an imposition that the same company earlier suggested.
Smart, according to Acaylar, wanted to exclude Globe and other rival companies from the float parade and competition, an imposition they made when they promised to be the main sponsor of the weeklong festival as early as May, this year.
Unfortunately, he said, Smart dropped the Kadayawan Festival "like a hot potato" and decided to forego with its promised sponsorship worth P6 million, simply saying it had no budget for the festival.
The devastating information came in the form of telephone call from the marketing manager of Smart in July, when all the plans, rules, programs and schedules for the August festival were already in place, Acaylar said.
He said the financial crisis created by the Smart pullout resulted in the decision of the foundation to slash several competitions in the festival.
But he said Globe saved the day for the Kadayawan when it agreed to give P4 million for the festival. This, after Globe's sponsorship was earlier refused in deference to the Smart sponsorship.
"Since Smart has been sponsoring us for the past Kadayawan celebrations, we negotiated with them for this year's Kadayawan Festival again. During our negotiation in May, we have already agreed na magbibigay sila ng P6 million. Actually ang hiningi namin originally ay P8 million kasi nga nalaman naming na nagbigay sila sa Iloilo ng P8 million. But ang sabi nila P6 million lang daw ang kaya nilang ibigay for Kadayawan. And that was the agreement," he said.
Acaylar said this is already the second incident wherein the company "declined" the city. The first being the Byahe Na television commercial.
"Take two na 'to. Remember the Byahe Na ad on TV? Tungkol naman dito sa sponsorship nila sa Kadayawan, feeling ko talaga parang trinaydor ka. This is such a very precarious situation. Hindi man lang sila nag-negotiate na kung pwede bang babaan pa nila ang ibibigay sa atin, wala talaga," he said.
Acaylar said until now, the company has never contacted him to give further explanation regarding the incident.
"Until now, I received none. At least, I deserve a better explanation," he said.
Despite what happened with Smart, Acaylar happily announced that the Kadayawan Festival celebration will still be as colorful as before since Globe Telecom has committed to give the festival an amount of P4 million.
"In July, tinawagan ko ang Globe and they said na titingnan nila kung meron pang budget for us. Fortunately, Globe committed P4 million. I just want you to appreciate what Globe has done and how Globe has saved us. Still, this year's Kadayawan Festival is 'bongacious' as you want it to be," he said.
(August 16, 2005 issue)
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