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Monday, September 20, 2004
Alay Lakad show stopped: 'obscene'
By Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- Participants of Sunday's Alay Lakad in Cebu City were promised wholesome entertainment but some were dismayed over the performances riddled with sexual innuendoes and cuss words.
While the activity had a huge crowd turnout, some of the participants, mostly students from public and private schools, were offended by some of the performances in the program prepared for them.
Some 160,000 participants attended the annual walk, which is expected to generate at least P1.8 million for the scholarship and skills training of out-of-school youth in Cebu City, Councilor Gerardo Carillo said.
Mayor Tomas Osmeņa, Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the city councilors attended the event but they all left shortly after the program at the Cebu City Sports Center began.
Judan Sta. Teresa, a teacher of Don Bosco Technology Center, said he was offended when one of the six hired performers wearing two-piece swimsuits and dresses started saying cuss words.
"Gia--y ninyo oy! Kapoy baya og sige'g piit sa akong --log!" one of the performers said as he danced before the crowd at the Cebu City Sports Center after the walk.
Their dance numbers also had sexual innuendoes and their utterances had double meanings, the teachers said.
"I was shocked with the cuss words. Maybe the City Government just wanted to entertain the crowd but based on ethics, the kind of show they had cannot be justified," Sta. Teresa told reporters Sunday.
He said that Sunday's performances did not suit the audience, composed mostly of students, professionals and government employees and members of four civic clubs who helped organize the event.
Officials of Jaycees International explained they did not intend to offend the people.
They said the performers were briefed not to say obscene words and to provide only dance and song numbers.
Carillo, who left after the performance, asked the program committee to stop the dance and song numbers after the sixth performance when he received complaints from several teachers through his mobile phone.
"What's the problem with that? Anybody can do it. It was intended to be a wholesome show but we didn't expect that the performers will overdo it. We didn't mean any malice, we just didn't have control over them once they were on stage. Ad lib na to nila," a member of the program committee said.
She added that while there were a few who complained, most of the participants were amused by the performances of the talents from True Events.
"So it really depends on how you interpret their utterances and their actions," the source added.
The 30-minute show also had the young members of several drum and bugle groups waiting under extreme heat at the oval of the sports center for their turn to compete.
As of Sunday night, the Alay Lakad Foundation raised P300,000 in donations, P400,000 in corporate sponsorships and P200,000 in raffle ticket sales.
The City Government will also give a counterpart fund of P6 for every participant, which will raise another P960,000 for the foundation.
Sunday's walk, which started from the Plaza Independencia and the Capitol grounds, drew 30,000 more participants than last year's activity.
(September 20, 2004 issue)
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