15/11/2022
Though I did have a lot of fun at Otakufest, there needs to be serious talk about managing the safety of their congoers if this event and any Cebu event wants to be anything like the international cons they want to be, let alone anything comparable to Manila. After posting these insta stories, and having people come to me again with their grievances and hurt caused by others, i feel its time we had a talk.
I and one other person had spotted an individual, who will not be named, at the event even though there had been constant public outings of them due to, allegations of, them harming m1n0rs and other cosplayers (a tale as old as time in this community.)
The organizers response to this was asking for proof and that they were giving him "one last chance" under close supervision. Which says a lot about how theyre handling it because even their personel i had spoken before making it to their security had no idea what i was talking about, so I do not know how closely they were actually watching this individual.
For years, I have been approached by congoers and cosplayers about incidences that has happened to them, and how unsafe they feel due to the presence of these dangerous individuals there. Stalked, harassed, SA'd, this has happened to people within our community by dangerous people in our community. And still, these perps roam the con with no consequences for their actions.
No matter what i have tried, i do not have the resources or help to be able to resolve or help mitigate their experiences other than provide a willing ear to listen to their grievences. I have used my platform where i can to call out these individuals to some avail, and no avail. It is hard when it feels like your own community doesnt have your back a lot of the times.
I as a victim of SA committed by people outside of the community, struggle to report issues like this to the authorities even if i go through the system correctly as they dont take victims of SA seriously. We need to do better as the older generation of cosplayers to protect the younger generation if local authorities cant help when it does happen.
The apparent protocol of some organizers from people i have spoken to is if something happens outside the con, the person who committed it is given a warning and if anything happens after that, that is when they get banned. Though i understand it from an organizing perspective, allowing them in just makes it feel like you do not care about the victims in your events. Thankfully, there are other organizers who i have spoken to locally who understand the situation and are doing everything they can to make sure these perpetrators are not welcomed in their space.
But there needs to be more done. Conventions and events need to hire real security and not have volunteers handle incidences like this. They are not trained to do so. Even something as petty stealing has made organizers baffled as they struggled to handle something that simple in previous events that were way smaller.
As someone who has attended several internationally renowned comic-cons and events in the USA in recent years, and observed how Manila handles people like this, we the Cebu Cosplay Community are sorely lacking any form of making people accountable for their actions and enforcing any punishment on the perpetrator or protection for the victims and fellow congoers.
I offer an olive branch to to imrpove their security and understand what went down, and to Cebu Cosplayers Guild (CCG) who plan to make cons happen every month from March til December next year, and am willing to speak on behalf of those harmed as well as give my own insights on ways to handle these incidences in the future as someone who has been in international events and as a victim to SA.
"Cosplay is NOT Consent," but it doesn't matter if the organizing body has no spine to actually do what is right for their community. Don't use the slogan if you don't mean it.
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Tldr; we need to do better. We know who's hurt who. We need actual security and protocols in these events to prevent this s**t from continuing.
