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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Telecom firm yanked out of floral float tilt
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
DAVAO CITY -- City Tourism Officer Edmundo Acaylar on Monday said an entry of Smart Communications to the Kadayawan float parade competition this Sunday was rejected after the telecommunications firm called off sponsorship of the event.
Acaylar said Smart promised last May to sponsor the festival for P6 million and in exchange asked that rival companies like Globe be excluded from the float parade and competition.
"Since Smart has been sponsoring us in 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 (that they would give us) P6 million. Actually ang hiningi namin (what we asked for) originally ay (was) P8 million kasi nga nalaman naming na nagbigay sila sa Iloilo ng (because we learned that Iloilo received) P8 million. But ang sabi nila (they said they can only give us) P6 million lang daw ang kaya nilang ibigay for Kadayawan. And that was the agreement," he said.
Just recently, however, Acaylar said Smart dropped the Kadayawan "like a hot potato," telling the city it was not pushing through with sponsoring the celebration because it had no more budget for it.
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, he added.
Acaylar said the financial crisis created by the Smart pullout resulted in the decision to slash several competitions from the celebration.
The tourism officer said Globe saved the day for the Kadayawan when it agreed to be the event's main sponsor and promised to give P4 million to fund several of the festivities.
He added that the city had refused Globe's sponsorship offer in deference to Smart.
Acaylar said Globe would have all the benefits earlier accorded to Smart and the main sponsor's rival companies would be excluded from the float parade and competition.
"In July, tinawagan ko ang (I called) Globe and they said na titingnan nila (they would see if there was still) 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' (glamorous) as you want it to be," he said.
Acaylar said this is already the second time that Smart "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 (About the Kadayawan sponsorship, I felt that we were betrayed). 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 (They could have negotiated for a lesser sponsorship amount with us, but they did not)," 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 celebration will still be as colorful as before since Globe Telecom has committed to give P4 million for the holding of the festival. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(August 16, 2005 issue)
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