The organizers of the recently concluded Manila Idol Matsuri have released a statement regarding the theft incident happened last September 2.
In the statement, the organizers say that they“are committed to conducting a careful and a thorough investigation” about what happened. “Rest assured that the matter is currently being investigated by the Makati City Police.. The organizers of the MIM are likewise giving their best efforts to resolve the matter at the earliest possible time.”, says the statement.
Several performers of the Manila Idol Matsuri voiced their displeasure on their personal social media accounts about the incident. An estimated Php80,000 worth of items such as wallets and gadgets were stolen at the event’s backstage citing poor security by the organizers.
There were also issues of alleged victim-blaming, intimidation and harassment on the part of the organizers.
In a recent post, they are looking to take legal actions. “It’s about time to take matters legally. It’s one thing that they wouldn’t admit their neglect in security, but intimidating the victims makes things even worse”, one of the performers said.
Manila Idol Matsuri is dubbed as the biggest gathering of Pinoy independent Japanese idol-inspired groups. It featured several hours of performance from the most popular Pinoy J-Idol inspired group. AKB48’s official sister group in the Philippines, MNL48 made an appearance at the event.
