JV Ejercito: 'Wattah, Wattah' mess a 'failure of leadership'

Sen. JV Ejercito on March 13, 2023

Senator JV Ejercito sees the reported chaos and inconveniences that marred the recent "Wattah Wattah" festival in San Juan City as a "failure of leadership."

Ejercito, a former San Juan City mayor, noted that the festival has returned to its old "chaotic" celebration, which he said has already been addressed since 2003.

"Ako ay sadyang nalulungkot na nagbalik ito sa dating kaguluhan, at walang disiplina ang mga nakikipagbasaan...Hindi ganito ang mga San Juaneños...Nasayang ang diwa ng San Juan Fiesta. This is a failure of leadership!" he said Friday.

(I'm saddened that the chaos has returned... the participants have no discipline... San Juaneños are not like this... the spirit of the San Juan Fiesta was wasted.)

Ejercito also refuted San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora's remarks that the festival was "open to sabotage" since it is open to everyone. The senator called it a "product of his imagination to cover up for the lapses of his leadership."

"Sino naman magsasabotahe (who would sabotage it)? Nobody in his right mind will sabotage fiesta much more their own kababayans," Ejercito said, pointing out that "everything was under control" during the celebration of the festival during his term and the term of his mother, Guia Gomez, in San Juan.

In a press conference on Thursday, Zamora apologized over the unruly celebration of the festival where the traditional "basaan" has caused inconvenience to some motorists.

He said  that authorities are now looking into the videos and photos that circulated online that show alleged unruliness from the residents as splash water at innocent passersby, even those inside vehicles.

GMA News Online has already sought Zamora's comment regarding Ejercito's remarks, but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

In an interview over Dobol B TV early Friday,  Zamora assured the public that the incident in the recent " Wattah Wattah"  festival will not happen again.

"Para naman po sa selebrasyon next year (for next year's celebration), we will do everything that we can para hindi ito mangyari (so that this will not happen again)," he said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News

This article JV Ejercito: 'Wattah, Wattah' mess a 'failure of leadership' was originally published in GMA News Online.