JV Ejercito: 'Wattah, Wattah' mess a 'failure of leadership'
![JV Ejercito: 'Wattah, Wattah' mess a 'failure of leadership'](https://images.gmanews.tv/webpics/2023/03/jv_ejercito_2023_03_13_20_06_38.jpg)
Senator JV Ejercito sees the reported chaos and inconveniences that marred the recent "Wattah Wattah" festival in San Juan City as a "failure of leadership."
Ejercito, a former San Juan City mayor, noted that the festival has returned to its old "chaotic" celebration, which he said has already been addressed since 2003.
"Ako ay sadyang nalulungkot na nagbalik ito sa dating kaguluhan, at walang disiplina ang mga nakikipagbasaan...Hindi ganito ang mga San Juaneños...Nasayang ang diwa ng San Juan Fiesta. This is a failure of leadership!" he said Friday.
(I'm saddened that the chaos has returned... the participants have no discipline... San Juaneños are not like this... the spirit of the San Juan Fiesta was wasted.)
Ejercito also refuted San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora's remarks that the festival was "open to sabotage" since it is open to everyone. The senator called it a "product of his imagination to cover up for the lapses of his leadership."
"Sino naman magsasabotahe (who would sabotage it)? Nobody in his right mind will sabotage fiesta much more their own kababayans," Ejercito said, pointing out that "everything was under control" during the celebration of the festival during his term and the term of his mother, Guia Gomez, in San Juan.
Speaking to reporters, Zamora said Ejercito's statement was already expected as he refuted allegations that these incidents did not happen during the previous administrations of San Juan City.
"Alam ninyo naman po expected naman po 'yan na walang magandang sasabihin si Senator Ejercito... Number one, these are isolated incidents at kahit naman po nung mga nakaraang administrasyon dito sa San Juan nangyayari naman po yan," Zamora said.
(We already expected the statement of Senator Ejercito. Number one, these are isolated incidents and happened even in the past administrations.)
"Alam naman niya 'yan at hindi niya dapat sabihin na hindi nangyayari nung mga panahon ng dating mga mayors. Kaya nga may ordinansa na pinasa nung 2018, di po ako mayor non ah...sapagkat 'yung mga nakasaad na 'di dapat gawin sa ordinansa na ;yon ay mga nangyayari na dati," he noted.
(He knows that and he should not say that these did not happen during the time of the previous mayors. That's the reason the ordinance was passed in 2018, I was not a mayor then, because the things stated in the ordinance happened in the past.)
For Zamora, this year's incidents were "highlighted" because of the advent of the social media.
"Alam ng San Juan 'yan. The people of San Juan will not lie alam nila na dati nangyayari talaga na 'yan. Ang kaibahan ngayon through the advent of social media mas naha-highlight siya (they know that these things happened before. The difference was these incidents were highlighted because of the social media)," he said.
Still, Zamora said the local government will take full responsibility over what happened last June 24.
In a press conference on Thursday, Zamora apologized over the unruly celebration of the festival where the traditional "basaan" has caused inconvenience to some motorists.
He said that authorities are now looking into the videos and photos that circulated online that show alleged unruliness from the residents as splash water at innocent passersby, even those inside vehicles.
In an interview over Dobol B TV early Friday, Zamora assured the public that the incident in the recent " Wattah Wattah" festival will not happen again.
"Para naman po sa selebrasyon next year (for next year's celebration), we will do everything that we can para hindi ito mangyari (so that this will not happen again)," he said. —KBK/AOL, GMA Integrated News