A former senator sought the help of local Twitter to search for a student he was able to bump into at the recently-concluded CONQuest Festival 2023 who had finals the day after the pop culture convention.
Former senator Bam Aquino, a supporter of Philippine esports, on Wednesday shared a video that showed him walking inside one of the convention’s venues and striking up a chat with a student in uniform who was passing by.
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“Kumusta, bro?” he greeted.
The student answered that he was “okay” and then proceeded to request for Aquino to sign a uniform he was holding at that time.
“Susuotin ko po sa finals ko,” the student explained with a chuckle.
The former lawmaker obliged and asked the student when his finals would occur.
“Bukas!” the student answered.
“Nasa CONQuest ka, finals mo bukas?” Aquino exclaimed.
“Nag-review ako kahapon,” the student gamely answered.
“Yan ang mahalaga, ‘di ba?” Aquino responded as he shook his hand.
“Sana maka-uno (1.0) ka bukas, ha?” the former senator added.
The video has earned over 270,000 views and 3,142 likes so far.
“Kilala niyo ba kung sino ‘tong nakausap ko sa #CONQuest2023? Gusto kong malaman kung nag-review ba talaga siya at pumasa ba siya sa Finals niya,” Aquino wrote as a caption with a laughing-with-tears emoji.
“Nahanap na ba siya? Sino kaya siya? Gusto ko lang malaman kung pumasa siya,” he added in the replies thread with the same emojis.
The following day, a Twitter user shared a screengrab of a quote tweet and tagged Aquino.
“Eyy, [that’s] me,” Twitter user @knnthwyn said in a quote tweet hours after Aquino posted the video on the platform.
The CONQuest Festival 2023 was a pop culture convention that was touted as its biggest iteration yet, with over 70 local and international guests and talents reportedly expected to attend from June 2 to 4.
These include Valkyrae, Pokimane, Sykkuno, South Korean rock indie band The Rose, Filipino singer-actor James Reid, Fuslie, Michael Reeves, LilyPichu and anime content creators JoeyTheAnimeMan and AkiDearest, among others.
The convention celebrated music, gaming, anime and comics in different venues, with the majority being held in the SMX Convention Center.
The event drew flak from some fans and enthusiasts who took to social media to air their grievances on overcrowding, hours-long queues, and alleged mismanagement of some events.
One con-goer told Interaksyon that the SMX Convention Center’s second-level floor slightly shook due to the large volume of people inside.
READ: Participants, organizer of CONQuest 2023 issue apology over ‘overcrowding’ at event
CONQuest 2023 director Justin Banusing has apologized and said that while there was “overpromising [and] overselling,” the mishaps were not done with malicious intent.
Festival pass holders who were not able to go to the venue due to the long queues on the second and third days of the convention may file for a refund until June 16, 11:58 p.m.
RELATED: CONQuest 2023 offers refund for Day 2, 3 pass holders