BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance increasing the subsidy of the local government to the private organizers of the traditional Ms. Baguio beauty pageant from the current P50,000 financial assistance to at least P250,000 to ensure the quality handling of the event by seasoned event organizers.
Members of the local legislative body agreed to base the amount of the city’s financial assistance to the Ms. Baguio organizers on the financial statement of the organizers, particularly Sonny T. Productions which will be handling the beauty pageant this year, to make sure that the conduct of the event will be improve through the years.
Andrew Bayating, a member of the Board of Directors of Sonny T. Productions, said most of the members of the company are sharing their time, effort and resources in ensuring the successful conduct of the beauty pageant annually because of their passion for the handling of said events.
The council finally found merit to the long overdue clamor of organizers of the Miss Baguio beauty pageant to increase the annual subsidy being provided by the local government to guarantee the staging of a quality beauty contest.
Under the ordinance that institutionalized the conduct of the Miss Baguio beauty pageant which is part of the annual celebration of the city’s Charter Day, the local government will be providing the winning organizers a financial assistance of P50,000 which will be directly given to the winner of the said contest.
Bayating explained that aside from the P50,000 cash prize for the winner of the beauty pageant, organizers frequently request Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan to provide for the plaques of recognition and trophies for the contestants and winners of the beauty pageant while the local organizers solicit from willing individuals and corporate donors to make sure of the success of the events lined up for the pageant.
The local legislative body revealed the planned increase in the subsidy for the Miss Baguio organizers will be implemented next year after the current organizer shall have submitted the financial statement of this year’s Miss Baguio beauty pageant to ascertain the amount that will be shelled out by the local government to further improve the conduct of this institutionalized event that forms part of the city’s Charter Day celebration.
Some local legislators believe it is high time for the city to increase the subsidy to the amount of P1 million like what other first-class municipalities and component cities in the lowlands are doing to make sure that the beauty pageant will be one-of-a-kind contest worthy of patronizing.
One of the suggestions of some councillors will be the scrapping of the sale of tickets by the organizers once the local government will increase its subsidy for the annual holding of the event as organizers have underscored that the reason why they had been selling tickets is to help them defray the expenses they incur due to the meager financial assistance provided by the city.
By Dexter A. See
