Alberca asks Garcia forgiveness

“Lord help me.”

CEBU, Philippines — These are the words, in bold letters, that Isidro Alberca posted over his social media account yesterday, as he asked for Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia's forgiveness following the tongue-lashing he endured from her

Alberca owns Alberca Lights and Sounds Rental, which provided the sound system for the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival 2023 grand showdown at the Carcar City Sports Complex last Sunday, August 27.

During the event, the governor was miffed after it suffered 15 technical glitches. She momentarily stopped the grand showdown to call out Alberca and hinted at sabotage.

In his post, Alberca asked for her forgiveness, as he aired his side of the story.

"GOV GWEN sorry gy(u)d kaayo nimo pero paminawa pod tawon akong side. Malooy pod tawon ka namo . Wala gy(u)d ko magbuhat nimo ug dautan, wala gy(u)d nako sabotahea ang show,” Alberca said.

“Ako gy(u)d tawon ni gipangga akong negosyo. Serbisyo nga minaayo. Proud kaayo ko sa akong ka pobre ang pagsalig nimo nako nya akong lang bang gub(-)on sa usa kapagpamilok. Kabalo mi Gov manggiluoy(-)on ka nga pagkatao. My apology sa nahitabo,” he added.

Alberca said the governor knows the effort he put into the task of ensuring that everything would be okay.

"I hope masabtan pod unta unsa among kahago sa pag balhin balhin sa set up. Ug sayod ang tanan  na unsa kapait among nasinati  atong tima. Daghan pod tawon kog tawo gasalig sa akong negosyo nga dha sila nabuhi. Malooy pod ka namo Gov,” he said.

In an interview with The FREEMAN the other day, Alberca vehemently denied sabotaging the event to ensure the victory of his daughter, who was competing for the "Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2023 Festival Queen" honors.

His daughter, representing Kabkaban Festival of Carcar City, indeed won, but Alberca said he had no hand in the decision.

“Naa may mga judges, wala sad koy kaila sa mga judges. Unya ayko og ingna akoa to gipangbayran ang mga judges aron makadaog akong anak. Dili sad tingali ko maka afford," he had said.

"In fact, sa nahitabo karon, okay na lang dili na lang akong anak ang modaug. Basta ako honest ko nga pagkatawo, wala ko naghuna huna anang sabotahe, kay kaning akoa negosyo ni. Panginabuhi ning amoa,” he added.

Because of the technical glitches, which were either the lights going off or videos not running, or both, contingents ended up redoing each of their performance.

When it was Carcar City's time to perform, with Alberca's daughter as its festival queen, no glitches happened and the presentation went on smoothly.

The governor, in a press conference the other day, warned the mayors that the results of the competition may change as she instructed SGV & Company, the accounting firm hired for Pasigarbo, to redo the computation, this time using the formula of 85 percent from the judges' decision and 15 percent from the online voting.

“You are asking me, I am changing the rules in the middle of the game. Well, I also did not expect there will be a sabotage in last night’s (Sunday night's) production. I am calling it a sabotage because by the very fact alone that Mr. Alberca did not care to divulge that his own daughter was also a candidate for Pasigarbo Festival Queen," the governor had said.

"Para nako, that was unethical and could led to suspicions not necessarily from me, by other people, nga gisabotahe,” she added.

In line with this change on how the scores would be computed, the Cebu Provincial Government had announced that it called off the Pasigarbo Sa Sugbo 2023 awarding ceremonies, which was supposed to be last Monday, August 28, at the Carcar City Sports Complex.

Garcia, in a meeting with Pasigarbo Sa Sugbo organizers and convenors, said some issues should be threshed out and settled so she decided to set another date for the awarding ceremonies.

Alberca, on the other hand, narrated about the difficulty they experienced when they were told to transfer the LED wall they already installed as early as August 24, 2023 when the stage was ordered transferred to the sports complex.

“Pag August 24 andam na gyud namo i-turnover ang tanan, kay nahuman na og install ang LED wall nga 12 ka panels. Hasta ang mga lights ug sound system okay na. Unya pag-Friday, August 25, giingnan mi nga ibalhin ang stage," he said.

"So, laliman ka lang pagtangtang na sad anang mga LED wall. Pero sa kalisud sa among naagi-an, nabalhin gihapon namo,” he further said.

The 50 participating contingents were supposed to have a technical rehearsal that day, Friday, but did not push through as the location of the stage was ordered transferred.

The stage was set up at the center of the oval but was moved at the center of the grandstand.

Alberca said his company has nothing to do with the construction of the stage, as other company was in charge of it.

“So, pagbalhin sa stage, natural balhin pud ang LED wall ug uban pa. Dili lalim ang pag alsa-alsa intawon. Mao to sigi og ayo sa stage unya ang akong mga tawo sigi pud og tinauray og balik sa LED wall, sa lights ug sa sounds," Alberca said.

"Ang nahitabo, wa nay technical rehearsal ang mga contingents. Wa naka-run through ang mga contingents,” he said.

One of the choreographers, who requested not to be named, confirmed this.

“Mao to nakulbaan na mi kay wala gyud mi naka-technical rehearsal. For an event as big sa Pasigarbo, naa gyud nay technical or grand rehearsal,” the choreographer said.

"Wala gyud tanan, igo ra gyud mi gipa-send sa among music and video. Mao na grabe ka struggle sa tanan nag-iyahay og pangita asa ang center,” he further said.

The Cebu provincial government is holding Alberca Lights and Sounds Rental responsible for what the governor termed as “technical boo-boos” during the event.

According to Sugbo News, the provincial government's official Facebook page, the Capitol production team took note that as a supplier, the company had inadequate equipment and was unable to fulfill its obligation. — (FREEMAN)