“MALICIOUS.”
That was the reaction of the organizers of the 1st Balik Yuhom XC Race as they condemned the “mischievous” act done by a group of spectators to some participants on Sunday, October 2.
A video making rounds on social media showed that the culprits were scooping water from a dirty stream by the race path and handing it to one of the race participants.
In a statement Roseller “Jojo” Ramos, a member of the organizing group, said yesterday, October 3, that they immediately acted on the incident and got in touch with one of the three culprits but got no reply.
Ramos said that two of tho spectators seemed to have deactivated their Facebook account.
“We would like to put it on record that the culprits were not race participants, but spectators who should have been more circumspect in their actions considering that we want everybody, especially those who travelled here for the race to enjoy our MassKara Festival,” he stressed.
Ramos also said they were hoping to deal with it privately “because we believe the culprits are minors,” however there were no responses from any of them.
“We don’t want that prank to mar the success of the bike run,” he emphasized, adding that they already apologized to the victim who actually won the race in the LGBTQ category.
“It was supposed to be a big thing for the LGBTQ community because races don’t normally have that kind of category, and we are sorry that this thing has to happen,” Ramos said.
According to the organizers the culprits were not members of the biking community in Bacolod and were “pandemic bikers" who took cycling as a hobby during the time that restrictions due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“Members of the biking community here and elsewhere always respect their fellow bikers and this would not have happened if they were real biking enthusiasts,” Ramos pointed out.
For her part, MassKara 2022 Festival Director Atty. Pinky Ocampo also condemned the act and appealed to Bacolodnons to “put our best foot forward as we want to make our participants and visitors feel welcome and get the best experience out of this festival.”
“We ought to feel proud that bikers from other parts of the country came to participate in this race and it is unfortunate for them to be victimized by pranksters,” she said.
Ramos also said they are just glad that “we continue to enjoy the support of the biking community because they know what actually happened. We hope this incident won’t be repeated again.”
The race brought in bikers from as far as Cebu, Iloilo, Guimaras, Antique and Negros Oriental among others.
Meanwhile, the victim in her social media account, said she already identified those who pulled a prank on her.
The victim said she will be filing complaints at Barangay Alangilan where the incident took place.
In a related development, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Committee on Health and Sanitation condemns in the highest form the incident.
Its chair Councilor Claudio Puentevella said such actions are reckless, callous, and a total disregard to public health and safety, since Bacolod City is facing the threat of cholera and other water born diseases which are detrimental to the health of the general public.
“The committee will call the attention of the involved personalities, the proper department involved and conduct a committee conference in aid of legislation, so that matters like this will not be repeated or tolerated in any form to our constituents,” he said.*