Following the conclusion of the ‘SAYAWIT 2026: Battle of the Bands (BOTB),’ several Far Eastern University (FEU) talent organizations and Institute Student Councils (ISCs) have raised concerns on the questionable declaration of winners. In response, FEU Central Student Organization (FEUCSO) admitted to the lapse, claiming miscommunication in the scoring system among committees.

Last February 12, the BOTB concluded with the proclamation of the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITHM) Music Makers, Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts (IARFA) Pastorale, and Institute of Arts and Sciences (IAS) Sessionistas as first, second, and third place winners, respectively.

However, reports claimed that the initially announced ranking was erroneous, causing concerned student organizations to react.

Citing ‘evident lapses’ in the implementation and enforcement of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) during the BOTB, ITHM SC released an official statement posted last February 13, demanding accountability from FEUCSO.

“These failures have directly and disproportionately impacted our ITHM Talent Organizations, placing them in an unjust and precarious position. It is unacceptable that organizations which consistently bring honor, excellence, and pride to the institution are made to bear the consequences of regulatory inconsistencies and administrative shortcomings,” the statement read.

On the same day, IARFA SC also released a statement, urging a thorough review of the incident along with corrective measures to resolve the issue.

“The act of rescinding the winners' awards after their public announcement is not only undignified but also a serious breach of integrity, diminishing the legitimacy of the event and compromising the confidence of the academic community. We therefore demand that FEUCSO be held fully accountable for these lapses and provide transparent clarification, as well as concrete measures to ensure that such failures will not be repeated,” it stated.

In an initial dialogue with FEU Advocate last February 13, FEUCSO Secretary Ivy Grace Bisnar stated that the issue stemmed from a miscommunication on FEUCSO’s end.

“What I can relay to you right now [is that] it’s definitely a lapse talaga on miscommunication sa end din ni FEUCSO, and we’re very much willing to take accountability for that, and currently, we’re talking with them to iron things out at makausap sila nang (consult with them) clear on what we can do to accommodate din, of course, siyempre, ‘yung mga naramdaman nila (what they felt) regarding the lapses,” she said.

Miscommunication in IRR enforcement, leniency

According to Bisnar, they advised the talent organizations that they would not incur deductions if the production supplier is the one accountable for the delays in the instruments' plug-in time.

However, other bands’ points were still deducted due to a miscommunication among committees, particularly those assigned to tally the votes.

“If it's the fault of the production supplier… kapag [ang] burden pa ay nasa production supplier… hindi dapat [napupunta] deduction sa talent organizations. Kasi definitely, hindi naman nila kasalanan ‘yun, ‘di ba? Pero what happened was, miscommunication lang din talaga sa nagta-tally ng votes natin, na akala nila since nakapag-start na, na-count siya. So ‘yung mga deductions, na-count natin (We assured the talent organizations that they would not receive score deductions if the delay is the production supplier’s fault. But a miscommunication transpired involving those assigned to tally the votes, who supposed that since the plug-in time started, the time should be counted along with the deductions),” the FEUCSO Secretary explained in a follow-up interview.

This was corroborated by the FEU Communication Society (CommSoc), FEUCSO’s production partner for SAYAWIT.

In an online interview, CommSoc President Franchezca Navarro stated that even before the event proper, they were already instructed to comply with the ascribed plug-in and plug-out duration unless technical difficulties arose.

“During the simulation, it was addressed to us by the OIC [Officer-in-Charge] of the Events Management Department that we must honor the two minutes and 30 seconds plug-in and plug-out time of each band written in their IRR. However, once a technical difficulty arises, we must immediately stop the timer to give way to the production supplier to fix it, and that faulty equipment or technical difficulty should not be the burden of any talent organization,” she shared.

Per Navarro, the production team honored the instruction. However, they did not expect that the awards committee set their own timer, which led to the wrongful deduction of points.

“The biggest point here is the wrongful deduction of points, which, to be frank, is not our responsibility or expected deliverable as a production partner. While we do hold the exact timing of each band's plug-ins & plug-outs, we had no idea that the awards committee from FEUCSO, in itself, also had their own timer. From our end, no talent organization should've gotten a deduction,” she said.

Last February 17, FEUCSO Auditor and Officer-in-Charge of SAYAWIT Awards Committee Margarette Macatangay released a statement on her personal Facebook account, acknowledging her part in the oversight.

According to her, the members of the awards committee took note of the bands’ plug-ins and plug-outs in compliance with the IRR, unaware that talent organizations were supposed to be given leniency.

“After their performances, we weren’t able to coordinate with the Production Team with the idea that the Awards Committee is in charge of taking notes of the time, as usually practiced. It was my personal lapse to not be able to loop myself in with the communicated execution pre-event and to not be able to instruct our committee to coordinate with the Production Team's time. This added to the factors on why there was a confusing presentation of the results,” the statement read.

This miscommunication in the timer protocol has reportedly prompted discrepancies in the scoring process, and consequently, the final results of BOTB, stirring confusion on the real ranking of the participants.

Concerns from talent organizations

As one of the talent organizations affected, FEU IAS Sessionistas President Jowie Jovia also posted a statement on his personal Facebook account, detailing the events that transpired during their SAYAWIT performance.

According to the IRR, each band is granted two minutes and 30 seconds for plugging in and plugging out their instruments, respectively. Additionally, the president also stated that a whiteboard should have been raised to inform the artists of their remaining plug-in time.

However, Jovia said that during their performance, no whiteboard was raised, prompting him to ask the production team to notify the band if they only had one minute remaining for their plug-in time.

But the production team told them to not worry about the time and to just proceed with the plug-in, causing confusion within the band. 

“Meron dapat itinataas na whiteboard ang production team ng SAYAWIT (The production team of SAYAWIT should have raised a whiteboard) to signal us with the time left for plug-in, pero wala silang itinataas [na whiteboard] (But they did not raise any whiteboard). So nagsabi ako [sa production team] na, ‘Puwede bang sabihin niyo if may one minute na lang kami for plug-in?’ At ang sagot [naman nila] sa akin ay ‘Do not worry about the time, just plug in,’ at dito ako nagtaka, pero sige, dahil sabi ng [production] team ‘yan, go [kaming mag-plug in] (So I asked the production team, ‘Can you tell us if we only have one minute left for the plug-in?’ And they answered, ‘Do not worry about the time, just plug in.’ I found that strange, but since the production team said so, we took our time to plug in),” the president said.

Jovia later found out that they were one of the only two bands told to ‘not worry’ about their plug-in times, leading to deduction on their points.

The musician expressed his disappointment toward the incident, describing the event as his ‘worst’ SAYAWIT experience in over three years. He also highlighted how the celebration, which is meant to showcase homegrown talents, turned into chaos, as the talent organizations faced conflicts with each other despite being victims of the organizer’s internal issues. 

“This is the worst SAYAWIT I have ever experienced… An event that is supposed to celebrate homegrown talents became a literal ‘Hunger Games’… Kasi pinag-aaway [ninyong organizers] kaming mga talent organizations. Eh, lahat naman kami dito biktima ng magulo niyong internal system (Because you, organizers, were making us fight when all of us are only victims of your chaotic internal system),” the post read. 

Moreover, Jovia sympathized with several ISCs’ statements regarding the incident, demanding accountability for the embarrassment caused to the artists by the organizer’s misinformation. 

FEUCSO’s official statement

Several days after the issue was publicized, FEUCSO released their official statement at around the same time as Macatangay.

FEUCSO admitted their lapses in the scoring due to the plug-in & plug-out time during the event, leading to the inaccurate announcement of winners on stage.

“We acknowledge the error that occurred during the announcement of winners for SAYAWIT. Points were deducted that should not have been, which resulted in the incorrect declaration of winners on stage,” the statement read.

Additionally, FEUCSO clarified that their production partners had fulfilled their responsibilities, stating that the error stemmed solely from their end.  

While acknowledging the efforts of the initial winner, FEUCSO admitted their oversight and will be extending their support toward the bands.

“We also recognize that the initially announced winners incurred expenses and prepared in good faith. While the outcome cannot be undone, we are taking steps to acknowledge their efforts and provide support in light of this error,” the SC said.

Furthermore, FEUCSO recognized the impact of the issue toward the talent organizations, affirming their commitment on rectifying their mistakes by taking actions and a structural follow-through on the present issue as well as for the future events.

Following the review of scores, FEUCSO has yet to release the official list of winners. 

FEU Advocate tried reaching out to the FEUCSO Auditor and other concerned organizations, such as the ITHM SC, ITHM Music Makers, IAS SC, and IAS Sessionistas, to get their respective sides on the incident, but has yet to receive a response as of writing.

(Photo by Melvin James Urubio/FEU Advocate)