It would take Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC), race organizers of the annual Cebu Marathon, more than 24 hours to come up with a statement about the no-show or late-show medals which they already knew about before race day.
And yet, all they could come up with was a convenient scapegoat and an apology that was an example of “how-not-to-apologize.”
While they seemingly took accountability for the missing medals at the finish line, they chose to elaborate on how and why this happened and all in the interest of transparency. Allegedly.
Race organizers claimed the medal supplier failed to deliver the medals as scheduled implying it was the fault of the medal supplier and not theirs.
And this is how this apology took a turn for the worse and became a sorry excuse and a futile attempt to abdicate from accountability for a logistical failure that seemed more a result of poor planning, organization and leadership than a supplier foul-up.
Race organizers claimed they were initially told the medals would not arrive in time for race day. (And yet, we heard nothing from them.) But because of a last-minute development, it became possible but not certain the medals would arrive on race day. Hence, no official announcements onsite were made on race day.
But this is not how transparency works.
Transparency demands that information be disclosed without being asked for. But at no point in time — before, during or after the race did CERC disclose the truth. Likely hoping the medals would still arrive in time and no one would ever have to know about their fumble, they chose to stay silent.
But they could have taken the high road.
Faced with the prospect of the medals not arriving in time for race day, they could have disclosed the information but assured all finishers that all medals would be couriered, post-race, free of charge, to wherever they were in the world.
This is how transparency works.
You disclose the truth. You don’t conceal it. You don’t stay silent hoping the situation changes and no one ever finds out.
When you foul up, you step up to the plate and unflinchingly take the spit on your face. You accept the consequences of your actions. You shoulder the cost of your mistakes even if that means cutting into your margins.
This is what accountability is about.
Even with the possibility of the medals arriving in time for race day, you could still have made the disclosure. Runners would have been pissed but we would have respected you for your courage and candor.
But it takes courage to face up to your failures.
Instead, you chose to stay silent, speaking up only when the sh_t hit the fan. You chose to blame the medal supplier who didn’t deliver as promised and the runners who you shamelessly accused of lacking in discipline.
Tired, miffed and hanging by a thread, clueless where the queues started or ended, we patiently waited for our hard-earned medals whose late arrival was unanticipated because you didn’t have the balls to tell us the truth.
You were rightfully booed.
When you fail to deliver on your promises, you don’t seek excuses. You apologize for your failures and make amends.
This is what integrity is about.
But we heard nothing: pre-race, intra-race, post-race. The silence was broken only when the news spread like wildfire on social media and got picked up by mainstream media.
This was not about transparency or accountability. This was about damage control. And a galling lack of integrity. As always. Enough.