Just last night, Balay Kanlaon’s Auction Night was capped. It was entitled “Surivor Philippines: Kanlaon” with its famous tagline, “Who will be the last Kanlaon survivor?”, after the equally famous reality TV show from where the auction night’s title and theme was derived.
I would not have wanted to come. There were a lot of things to do and we just came home tired from the city. But as it was the one of the last auction nights that we are going to witness (kasi gagradweyt na po kami, hihi) and two of my friends have crushes among the auctionees, I decided to tag along.
Auction Nights in the UPV dorm history were never like this one. The entire production was carefully thought of and executed. All of the auctionees were thoroughly deliberated (good-looking, brains, body, etc.); it seems that the dormers of Balay Kanlaon were expecting a lot of people not only to attend, but to bid, most especially.
For one, the venue for the auction nights was always in the inner court of the dormitories. This time, they had half of the covered court transformed into the set of “Survivor Philippines”. There were torches, Aztec masks and all the “native-ness” that went along with it. The dormers of Balay Kanlaon also brought out chairs for the ones who bought VIP tickets. Lastly, the tarpaulins which were initially used as communication materials were hanged “clothesline-style”.
But that’s just some of the bright parts.
Over the years, Balay Lampirong, the other freshmen dormitory, usually got more money than Balay Kanlaon could accumulate. For one, Balay Lampirong required all of their male freshmen to be auctioned. Needless to do math, Balay Lampirong had more income than Balay Kanlaon does with only 10 auctionees.
Last year, however, the freshmen of Balay Kanlaon broke the record by banking on publicity and good-looking auctionees. If I remember correctly, the highest bidder purchased a guy for P6,000 (my 5-6 weeks worth of allowance)—the highest that have ever heard of.
This year, that record escalated even more (to think that BK only had ten auctionees). Now get this: the third auctionee, a female, was bought for P5000. And that’s just the third auctionee. The rest of the auctionees (numbers 1-8) average earnings were between P2000-6000. The last male auctionee was bought for P9000. The price of the last female auctionee: P10,400. OMFG. That’s roughly six weeks worth of college allowance or a semester’s tution fee!
I cringed at the thought of UP students becoming more and more inclined to commercialization (or overspending, for that matter)—the very thing which we are itching away from. There was one student who was a part of an organization fighting against fare increase, tuition hike and the commercialization of education. But he was there, and he bought an auctionee. It’s not that I’m meddling into his affairs or that I have a personal vendetta against him but I think that his act was kind of the opposite of what he was fighting for.
But then again, it’s his life and money. He can do whatever he wants to do with it. What saddens me is the inconsistency in his principles. But to give him the benefit of the doubt, he might be the friend of the auctionee and he was just trying to “save” her from the other bidders who might “exploit” her. I hope for his part that my second hunch is true.
I don’t know if BL’s earnings will exceed BK’s this year. I don’t know if those who bought auctionees are going to go hungry for a month or so. I don’t know if being an auctionee is an honor or a curse. But there’s one thing which really stuck with me after the event is: Didn’t the bidders think that too much money should be spent for a mere 24 hours with one person?
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A bird told me that BK earned roughly P24,000 that night ( several thousands more than what the previous auctions were able to earn)-that is if the bidders will pay. wehehe.
