Lair of Indolence

Have you heard what happened before the event? The registration processes, the queue of lines and all? If not, click here.

The result of the most anticipated event had certain issues attached to it which is now roaming around the University from faculty members, to students and alumni and probably the fishball vendor outside the University knows of it. But little do they know what this issue was, of what really happened that night.

The top five candidates for both male and female were about to be called at about ten o'clock in the evening. Two judges had already left that of ABS-CBN's Martin Del Rosario and Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2012 Janine Tugonon. Three judges, if not mistaken were now present, a representative from Globe Telecommunications, former Red Warrior now Rain or Shine basketball player Mr. Paul Lee and UE Mass Communication graduate and Executive Marketing Director of UK Derm Phils Ms. Gretchen Tamayo.

The top five candidates were already called for the question and answer portion. The representatives for the male were from the College of Business Administration, Dentistry, Computer Studies and Systems and two from Caloocan campus. On the other hand, the females were from the College of Computer Studies and Systems, Business Administration, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Dentistry. You know the drill right? They'd pick a random number corresponding to one of the judges and the latter gets to ask the questions.

And it's almost time for the results as the Q&A portion had ended and here's where the catch starts. Results were now being tallied by the Research and Development Unit as they were responsible for the automated tallying for the night and there seemed to be some fuss over the results for the person who'd be crowned as Mr. University of the East 2012. There was a tie. Yes, you read that right, same scores for two male representatives vying for the title.

A former University Student Council officer was also there to see what's happening. On that note, since they do not want to go with a tie-breaker, they opted for a judge to decide who should win. Yes, only one judge was given the utmost privilege for if not mistaken, the other judges had already left. Correct me if not mistaken, but the University Student Council was not able to anticipate such cases as they have not included such tie-breaking situations in their mechanics when they had started the event. All they said were that of the corresponding percentages to the criteria of the pageant.

I would take the liberty to not tell the judge's name who had been given that privilege to decide. Well, there were only three judges left that night, so that narrows your options. Though you can ask me by direct messaging or tweeting your concern @ https://twitter.com/daevtan. Talk about shameless plug.

Anyhow, that aside, several professors from the College of Arts and Sciences also came to knowledge of what happened as they were already keen on who would win that night only to have their fearless forecasts shattered. Other faculty members from other colleges of who I am sure of had also came to this information. Students are also talking about it from here in Manila to Caloocan but certain facts needed to be pointed out as to not disseminate the wrong information thus this blog.

When concerns like these happen, it's like taking down the credibility and integrity of the whole show and it leads to the point that the whole show was orchestrated. If ever you would doubt the information that there was a tie in scores for the top two candidates, I would then challenge the University Student Council to show the tally sheets and  score results and if not, I could also humbly ask the Research and Development Unit to provide one hoping that they still have such copies.

This blog post is in no way created to have me garner attention or to attack an individual or an organization. Boasting aside, I had already had my fair-share of attention during my undergraduate years. This blog post's only intention is to cater the people of what really happened that night so as to straighten the facts from what allegedly happened.

Foundation anniversary was about to end that afternoon and the most anticipated event to cap off the week neared its hour. Students from different colleges queued in line outside the theatre holding their respective color-coded balloons in hand. It was about quarter to four o'clock that afternoon. The time of waiting had drawn to a close when they had let students get in the premises of the theatre only to be held back by half an hour or so again due to certain "system enhancements" the Research and Development Unit was said to be doing according to a marshal located at the escalator of the said premises.

The clock ticked a minute and so and while waiting, I had observed several students, who I am sure of that are not part of the organizers of the event, who have been walking the stairs going to the theatre. Yes, they may be part of the VIPs or friends of the candidates who had been given exclusive privilege to get in earlier but hey, who are you joking with, there were more than ten students who passed by in a single group. I was then asking a friend how were they doing backstage as they were there to assist. I also happen to ask if the backstage would be accessible to students like us. That friend of mine happened to tell me that there were sightings of supposed-to-be student council members or so as the group claims that were in the backstage asking where the dressing room of the candidates are. Were they not briefed about the location of the dressing room or were they playing dumb? Or better yet, were they using the student council's name in vain just to get them a backstage pass and roam around.

Ten tenths of an hour had then passed or whatever time that was since I already lost track by being held down there for reasons I had anticipated for the betterment of the event. When the signal was given that we were allowed to enter inside the theatre, the line of students found their own ways. We were supposedly first in line but since there were the normal stairs and the escalator which had been closed, students flocked whichever way they wanted to go. My friends and I just went to the flow of the students rushing in as the line that was suppose to be well-organized was nowhere in place. A total mess to say the least. Two stairs leading inside the theatre proper are there and the rushing students were like divided by Moses as they rushed the respective stairs. They were already shoving people off just to get inside.

When the students were already midway the stairs and handful of them have already gone inside, the people from the Research and Development Unit then tried their very best to hold most of us as there was a registration process. Oh yeah right, that automated registration process that consumed most of our time due to system enhancements. Andon pa pala yon. Yes, I have seen people at the registration counter but I have not seen the marshals that would direct the people there for such purposes. So we continued our way the stairs as it was also impossible to go down without having to push your way out as people were still rushing in. It was a horrible sight. Then there came the Public Relations Officer of the University Student Council trying to explain everything that we needed to register and they will only allow people with registration stamps in. As they we were about to obliged with that, we have seen students who said that they have registered but had not been stamped as one student points it, "wala ng stamp sa baba". This got me enraged so I shoved off the people to make my own way to speak to the said officer and confronted him telling him the things that happened that there were no longer stamps down there and what does he plan to do? Well, he just said, "pano nangyari yon?"  

We waited for several minutes more but a friend of ours was already finding it difficult to breathe and this is not just some mere exaggeration and guess what, the said officer had already left us hanging there. A friend of ours said that we'd just contact a friend backstage to let us in and so we left the premises. As much as we would like to be fair in going in unlike some douchebags using the student council's name just to get in, we were left with no other choice. Before leaving the premises, I had seen one of the guards in the main entrance of the theatre and said my rants then he pointed to the officer-in-charge. Got to confront the OIC and said to him that the marshals have already mismanaged the scene. Yeah guys, you did. He said that "kaya nga kayo may marshals don para sila ang mag-asikaso" and I happened to reply, "I am not a marshal sir, I am an alumni. I am Dave Tan" then I shook his hand. Well, I was familiar with who he was anyway. It may sound arrogant of me but I was already filled with so much rage back then and I would like the marshals be given aid from the security office since it was already a total mess.

And so it goes, we called one of our friends inside the theatre to fetch us. The Vice-President of the University Student Council together with marshals, I guess, had then confronted us before going in. My friends and I had already had our voices high then for they kept insisting that we must have that damn registration stamp before getting in. Like dude, haven't your colleagues told you that there were no longer registration stamps at the registration counter? We managed to get in after so much of a raucous.

As I go by the standards of giving constructive criticism and not simply pointing out the flaws, I will give certain points of I think you guys already know of but lack proper implementation.