Unpaid dues

Dave Achondo

DID you guys enjoy the Higalaay street festival? Good, at least someone did. But did you know it is said that they kept a little dark secret behind the joyful occasion.

Quite a few people have already told me what really happened during the most festive day of Cagayan de Oro. In fact, there were a lot of people who were waiting for their payment for their hardwork during the event but didn’t receive any compensation for their efforts.

Let me tell you this. If you’re an organizer of an event, there should be a written agreement between you and the people you have recruited to participate in your event so they would know where they stand in all this and what they have to gain afterwards, otherwise the event would crumble and it would definitely show how an amateur you are when you handle your events. Promises are good, but assurance is better.

According to my sources, the organizer of the recently concluded Higalaay street festival failed to provide, and on top of that, they did not deliver what was agreed upon “verbally” between the talents and the head.

However, the group that I have talked with said they were not dismayed over the TF that they failed to provide or the promises that they never fulfilled. They cried foul over the fact that they were neglected because they were mere dancers and rappers/emcees so their talent fees, as a result, were forfeited by the organizers.

Adding that, the DJs and other talents of the event were paid handsomely, and they were left out of it and gave an excuse that they didn’t do anything to market the event and later on declared “bankruptcy.”

You have to see this is an example of exploitation. As an organizer, you should have told your talents straight in their faces that you couldn’t provide your end of the bargain.

If you want to make a name for yourself, you better treat your talents with respect and stick to the agreement.

I wonder if the organizers realized that the talents want to make a living out of their passion but can’t because some people simply take advantage and give them false hopes.

This goes with all sorts of talents not only in the field of dancing but also includes other professions such as photographers, singers and others.

Don’t confuse ex-deals with “thank you” notes. Ex-deals are the type of agreements that give you full compensation although not in cash but in gift certificates, trade of services or whatsoever. It would have been great if that was the case, but according to them, it was all sweettalk.

Aside from that, organizers should have the cajones to explain to their talents what really happened and not have a liaison answer for all the lapses.

Local talents deserve every ounce of respect and compensation for their efforts. If what they did was easy, you wouldn’t need to hire them in the first place.

Local talents will never prosper if local organizers themselves take advantage of them.