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By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — Scitech and Digital News
(SDN) — All’s well that ends well for the Closing Ceremony of the 63rd Palarong Pambansa 2023 on Aug 5. Or so it seems.
Vice President “Inday” Sara Duterte, the guest of honor, especially being the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd; Marikina City Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro was there, of course, and all the invited VIPs, Mayor Michael Rama of Cebu City, next year’s Palaro host, was there; the city schools’ students in their dancingest outfits representing the fiestas of the country’s 17 regions; there was a concert, and a drone show, among other ingredients of a screamingly joyous event.
Drone show boo-boo
Well, as it turned out there was blunder, a controversy in the event’s evening drone show. an image or a figure the Philippine flag reflected in the sky had the “red” color on top, the “blue” below. As everyone knows, a flag like the Philippines when shown or raised with the red color on top means could a “bloodshed, as in war and revolution“, but it can also mean “courage and domination, or an alert of danger”.
And so, the local government unit (LGU) of Marikina, to put it mildly, was not pleased with the flag boo-boo.
In fact, the incident, perhaps unintended, or an honest mistake, prompted the Marikina LGU under Teodoro’s leadership to “condemn” the incident, issuing a statement in Pilipino.
“In the celebration of the conclusion of the 63rd Palarong Pambansa, part of the program is a drone show from the city’s supplier — Dronetech.ph,” the statement reads.
It added that in the Drone Show a mistake was committed in the formation of the Philippine flag that shoed red was on top and blue on the bottom.
“The Marikina City Government headed by Mayor Marcy Teodoro strongly condemned the incident and wants Dronetech.ph to be charged to determine the company’s legal accountabilities including the attendant punishment,” the Marikina statement emphasizes.
In relation with this, Dronetech.ph issued a statement on Saturday, August 5, the day of the Closing Ceremony at the Marikina Sports Center (MSC) attended by thousands of people, including the athletes, coaches, school officials, and the public.
“We would like to apologize to the City of Marikina, Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro, and to the whole country it’s (sic) people and the Philippine government for a grave error we have made in the drone show programming of the colors red and blue of our Philippine flag which were interchanged,” the drone company says.
“We at Dronetech PH apologize for the inconvenience our Drone Show has caused at the Palarong Pambansa Closing Ceremonies held at Marikina Sports Center this evening,” it says further.
It appears, that, as the drone company, explains in its statement of apology, that they were supposed to test the Drone Show (and see how it appeared before its actual staging, but “severe weather conditions and signal interference” in the MSC open field prevented them from doing so. And does it was not notice.
Dronetech.ph promised that in its future shows they will make sure to execute their proper protocols in testing of their show products. “The company is sincerely sorry for this unintentional error in programming. As God is our witness, we have innocently made this mistake and have no malice or bad intentions on anyone and the people of Marikina and the Philippines as a whole,” the company reiterates its apologies.
Dronetech.ph asked the Marikina LGU for understanding in the very unfortunate event.
The drone company has found allies among some netizens, they are forgiving of the flag blunder as their comments show:
Elaine Santos Santiago: “Sa totoo lang ndi ko napansin un sobra kasi kaming namangha sa galing nila. Sana wag na kasuhan baka nagkamali lang talaga at hind naman po sinasadya”.
Jennefer Jayona Tabios: “Hoping na hindi na maulit, and praying na ang pagkakamali sa pagkabaligtad at pagtaas ng pulang kulay ay hindi maging hudyat ng anumang kasamaan…”
Nida Beltran Asuque: Huwag naman sana kasuhan! Ibalik na lang po ang bayad ng City of Marikina”.
Benjie Santos Bolibol: “For me it was really unintentional. Apology accepted! Mabuhay Marikina!”
Vitalicio Peralta: Apology accepted…unintentional…super gandaaa”.
Kaye Peralta Makilan: “ang ganda ng show.. un lang tlga mejo nag error.. at least they made their apology and accepted their mistake”.
These are just some of netizens take on the flag incident during the Palaro conclusion ceremony. (✓)