Dinagyang tribes tilt grand winner brings home P26M
ILOILO CITY: Tribu Pan-ay of Fort San Pedro National High School emerged as the grand champion in the Dinagyang Ati-atihan tribes competition, bringing home a whopping cash prize of P26 million.
Tribu Pan-ay bested seven other contingents to take home P25 million worth of school projects, P1 million cash prize and a P15,000 worth of gift certificate from Mang Inasal.
Apart from claiming the championship trophy, the tribe also bagged the Best in Music award and earned the honor of representing the Dinagyang Festival in Aliwan Fiesta 2024.
Fort San Pedro National High School’s tribe also won the title in 2011 and 2012, subsequently earning the championship award at the Aliwan Festival for both years.
Meanwhile, Tribu Paghidaet of LaPaz National High School failed to defend its title and gracefully settled for first runner-up. It also received the Best in Production Design award.
The awarding ceremony on Sunday evening surprised supporters when Tribu Silak of Iloilo City National High School failed to secure a spot among the runner-up winners despite winning the Best in Choreography, Best in Performance and People’s Choice Awards.
Supporters speculated that the tribe was either disqualified from the competition or had its score deducted.
Eric Divinagracia, the artistic and creative director of the 2024 Dinagyang Tribes Competition for the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI), clarified that none of the participants in this year’s tribes’ competition was disqualified.
During a press conference on Monday afternoon, January 29, Divinagracia explained that Tribu Silak’s overall score was reduced due to a violation related to props, specifically the uwak (crow) ensemble exceeding the competition’s maximum size.
“There was one tribe, the Tribu Silak, that had a prop exceeding the prescribed dimensions. Upon inspection, the infamous uwak, when its wings were spread, measured 30 feet, but we did not actually refer to that,” he said.
Following the competition guidelines, the prop should have a height limit of 12 feet and a breadth or diameter of 10 feet.
Divinigracia said the established rule, which the tribes were thoroughly oriented on, imposes a penalty of 10 points for each judge in all four judging areas. There were around 20 judges that evaluated the performances of each tribe across four judging areas.
The artistic director said the violation affected the overall score but did not impact the technical award.
The IFFI received images from an unnamed source regarding the uwak props of Tribu Silak, prompting the committee to conduct an onsite inspection, and the props were measured in front of the tribe manager and choreographer during verification.
“We also did our due diligence and our due process, which meant that after we found out that there was an infraction, we immediately contacted the tribe in question,” he said.
Divinigracia noted that the tribe manager was informed about the deductions after the inspection and before the awarding ceremony.
Had there not been a deduction of points for Tribu Silak, the artistic director said the tribe would have garnered higher chances of securing the championship title.