My first time to attend PCL NatCon (Feb 26-28, 2020)

Philippine Councilors League

11th National Congress

February 26-28, 2020 | SMX Convention Center, Pasay City

Less than a week after the NMYL National Convention, was the Philippine Councilors League National Congress at SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

I did enjoy the NMYL National Convention in Cebu, so I was genuinely excited for the PCL NatCon

We pre-registered to the event to avoid hassle on both parties. We submitted our names together with a roommate and got our assigned hotels. Same with the NMYL, it was a shared room. When we got to the registration desk in the hotel, my name was not on the list, I didn’t understand why. Luckily, I was with my roommate and since there was a blank space on the list, they filled it up with my name.

There are about 17,000 Councilors in the country so imagine the crowd in the venue…

There were a lot of guest speakers during the event and celebrity performers. I didn’t get to meet a lot of people unlike other smaller events where you could actually converse with others and everything. In big events like these, it’s also a bit hard to look for your companions. We kept looking for one another every time…

Also, the sad thing was that I always could not get any food. The queue was super looong and by the time I get to the buffet area, there’s literally no food left (like nothing). Servers just tell you to go get from the other buffet stations, but everything’s gone.

At exactly 1pm, the voting was supposed to start. But I still hadn’t had my lunch. About 30 minutes later, we heard that there was a glitch in the system and voting was on hold. Everyone was just waiting for a formal announcement from the organizers on what we’re supposed to do. (There weren’t any)

At 3:30pm, we decided to check out what’s happening in the voting polls. There were no updates. People couldn’t get in. Doors were locked. So, we decided to go back to the hall.

I was getting a little hungry, I didn’t get to have lunch. I tried to claim for my snacks. All they said was, “Ma’am ubos na po.” I went to all of the buffet stations. I couldn’t get anything to eat. (tried to ask for anyone in-charge, nobody came)

So, at around 5pm I just left the venue, my head was spinning, I was soooo hungry and it seemed like they were going to declare FAILURE OF ELECTIONS anytime soon.

By 11pm, the PCL Official Facebook Page confirmed that there was a FAILURE OF ELECTIONS and still have to await further announcements regarding the next date for the elections.

All in all, it wasn’t the best experience but it was a different one. Still very blessed to be able to join and attend these kinds of events

Thanks for reading!

Tyra