The highlight of the yearly celebration of the Foundation Anniversary of UNP Candon Campus is the crowning of the King and Queen. Customary citywide parade, however, is held during the last day of the anniversary celebration in order that the public may see the crowned King and Queen riding on a beautifully decorated float and accompanied by their parents, faculty members, students and personnel of the university.
The selection of the King and Queen is done through a popularity contest where the candidates must solicit money from donors or benefactors. The solicited money is cast and counted during the canvassing and the male and female candidates who will get the most money raised will be declared King and Queen respectively.
The proceeds of the popularity contest are usually budgeted for the prizes in the intramural games and academic contests which are also held during the week-long anniversary celebration. Whatever amount is left from the gross proceeds is allotted by the student body for tangible projects for the current year.
In this year’s 19th Foundation Anniversary, some people suggested that the anniversary should be celebrated without the usual popularity contest because of the difficulty of convincing student-contestants to participate. While other students complain that they have a hard time soliciting money to financially back them up for the contest.
Mr. Alex Q. Mendoza, the coordinator for Culture and Arts of UNP Candon, and myself were conducted a survey and asked some students, student leaders and people from the commnity to find out their views about the conduct of popularity contest specifically on the historical, social and economic significance of the tradition parade of King and Queen.
Our respondents were the presidents of 9 programs in UNP Candon such as the Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Elementary Education; Bachelor of Secondary Education; Bachelor of Science in Criminology; Bachelor of Science in Business Administration; Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; College of Health Sciences; Associate in Office Management; Associate in Medical Office Management. The 3rd and 4th years AB Political Science were also used as respondents and some parents in the community of UNP Candon.
Here are the findings of the survey.
Along social significance, those who viewed the popularity contest and traditional parade negatively, said that people in the community are not aware of the reason of conducting the parade of the king and queen; it is not attractive to the community; does not give any educational value; just showy display of garments, garland and ornaments and; it required the invitation of social dignitaries; hence, the school is affected mostly in terms of reception and accommodation of guests.
Along historical significance, according to them, it is not related to History that interest the community; does not enlighten the students about their knowledge in history; does not give any educational value; it is an old-fashioned out-dated activity and; not worth remembering or reminiscing.
Along economic significance, they said that it is very hard to solicit or find donors to support a candidate for the popularity contest; waste of money and just make the family of the contestants become financially indebted; the proceeds of the contest have no productive or concrete result; only the rich ones are able to participate in the popularity contest and; sponsoring organization spent much in the rentals of royal garments.
However, the respondents who give positive comments on the contest and traditional parade of King and Queen gave the following views:
- As part of the community, I think that the traditional popularity contest does give some significance to us. For it is one way of showcasing the pride of our University by means of the annual coronation and parade and also one way of entertaining the people or audience.” This parade of king and queen, even it is said to be old-fashioned it gives significance to the community in reminiscing our history. This will make us proud that once we made history that has been part of our life.
- The traditional parade of king and queen gives some significance to me as part of the community because it creates a way for the people / residents or our barangay to cooperate, but the proceeds of the popularity contest must really be productive so that the sponsors / residents shall be encouraged again to support the contest.
- The traditional king and queen parade is very significant as part of the community because it is already a tradition of the Filipino people. It is part of our fiestas or barangay affair that can show cooperation for the betterment of the society.
- It is a tradition of the school to conduct a popularity contest, why should it be remove? And it is the highlight of our foundation day.
- For this traditions, we need to accept the fact that this already a part of our life, to be able for us to expose and to be known in our school and other places.
As for me, I agree to the comments of the first group of respondents.
