Pageant manager told to make public apology

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City acting Mayor Michael Rama has finally asked Bruce Bollozos, production manager of the controversial Miss Cebu 2009 beauty pageant to apologize to the family of pageant contestant Kimberly Therese Burden.

Burden, a physical therapy student of the Cebu Doctors University, garnered 117,797 votes in the Globe Texter’s Choice Award, but it was candidate Kris Tiffany Janson who was announced winner despite getting only 95,830 votes.

Rama has approved the investigation report of the three-man committee headed by Councilor Gerardo Carillo which recommended that Bollozos and the Cebu City Tourism Commission make a public apology to the family of Burden.

Acting Vice Mayor Hilario Davide III, the concurrent chairman of the city tourism commission, said they will publish in the newspaper the commission’s letter of apology to the Burden family.

But Kimberly’s mother, Dr. Rowena Burden, said she is not satisfied of the results of the probe as she considers public apology as “not actually a sanction”.

The elder Burden, who already received the copy of the investigation report yesterday, said she will first discuss the matter with their lawyer to guide on what their next move should be.

The panel of investigators has acknowledged that the incident is “so painful to the Burden family” particularly to Kimberly who then decided to withdraw from being part of the court of the reigning Miss Cebu, being the second-runner up, and has then been seeking justice for the humiliation she felt during and after the pageant.

Carillo explained that before they started the investigation it was already proven that Burden was the real winner in the said special award. The issue that they want to find out is whether there was malice in the commission of such mistake particularly that Bollozos had claimed it was an “honest mistake”.

Since it was a Globe Telecom-sponsored contest, the telecommunications company is “also not totally blameless in the fiasco,” Carillo said.

“Despite of such responsibility, Globe never issued a certificate or any other form of official document that would serve as basis in declaring the winner,” the panel of investigators said.

But the panel gathered that Globe Telecom, through its content provider, Payvenue Computer Consultant Services, offered to “provide a system for a set-up of a live broadcast of the text-vote tally but that such was refused by Bollozos.”

Bollozos reasoned out that the system offered “does not correspond to their specifications.” Although the allegation regarding the refusal was denied, it was evident however that during the time of the pageant, there was no system of any kind being set up at the venue of the pageant, hence, there was no other form of vote tally verification available except through text. – Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)