DESPITE losing its three-peat record in the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, Carcar City is determined to reclaim the title next year.
This was the message of Carcar City Mayor Patrick Barcenas as he urged his constituents to accept the results of the recomputation on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, producing a new set of winners in the various Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2023 categories.
“Sakit man para sa katawhan sa Carcar pero ako makaingon, duna nay kasabutan ang tanan and para lang sa panaghiusa, balido sad ang mga rason. Sa akong bahin, nahimo naman mi nga 6th (placer), willing lang sad ko mo accept kay mao man sad ang ila naa man sad silay paagi sa pag judge mao to nga okay nalang. Ato nalang nang dawaton ang tanan, sa sunod,” said Barcenas.
(Though it’s difficult for the people of Carcar, I could say the reasons are valid because everyone agreed for the sake of unity. For my part, we became the 6th (placer), and I’m willing to accept that since they have their way of judging. So, that’s alright. Next time, we’ll just accept everything.)
The Capitol announced that the awarding ceremony and the repeat performance of the Pasigarbo 2023 winners will be held at the International Convention Center (IEC) in Mabolo, Cebu City on Oct. 7.
Carcar City landed in sixth place in the new list of winners from being the grand champion in the ritual showdown in the first announcement of winners on Aug. 28 at the New Carcar City Sports Complex.
Its candidate for festival queen, Jhesidy Thea Alberca, also slid down from the top spot to second place based on the new results.
The city’s first-place finish in the street dancing competition remained unaffected, though.
Meanwhile, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia hinted on Wednesday that the holding of Pasigarbo sa Sugbo next year is still uncertain, citing this year’s controversies.
“I have not decided yet whether we should [have] another Pasigarbo, but suffice it to say that we have [been] really proud of our mayors that [they] continued to stay united,” said Garcia.
Acceptance
Although they were disappointed by the modifications made to the announcement of winners of the recently concluded festival, according to Barcenas, they must accept the outcome.
This year’s event took an unexpected turn after multiple technical glitches marred the grand ritual showdown held at the New Carcar City Sports Complex, causing several contingents to repeat their performances and affecting the results of the online voting for the competition.
In a press briefing last Aug. 28, Garcia announced her intention to recompute the final score of the contingents that participated in the grand ritual showdown, as the technical issues had severely affected the online voting for some of the 50 contingents.
Despite this, Barcenas nonetheless gave his congratulations to all the winning contingents.
He also urged his constituents to accept the result to avoid trouble.
Festival queen
In a separate interview, Alberca, the festival queen of Carcar City’s Kabkaban Festival, said she accepted the new turnout of the competition.
Alberca also extended her congratulations to the winners, particularly to Mariel Bogert from the Dinagat Festival in Cordova town, who is the new Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival Queen.
Alberca is now the category’s second runner-up winner.
“The decision made by our judges is acceptable to me. It isn’t easy for everyone to be a festival queen. My utmost respect goes to them. No matter what, we are all queens, with or without a crown,” she said.
She also said that she has since moved on from the fiasco and she will pursue other personal endeavors.
Alberca has filed her certificate of candidacy for the position of Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Barangay Valladolid in Carcar City.
Meanwhile, Garcia also announced on Wednesday that all the local government units that took part in the Pasigarbo will receive P1 million financial aid for their socio-cultural programs and initiatives.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also allocated P50,000 for all mayors who made special appearances during the Mayor’s Introduction Videos. (ANV, KJF, EHP)