Baguio
City's Panagbenga Festival Kicks Off January 30
The 11th Baguio Flower Festival or
Panagbenga opens on January 30 and the revelry is highlighted by the
parade of flowers on February 25 and 26. Visitors to Baguio
City (246 kms from Manila) will be
very excited about the various activities lined up this year. Equally
interesting, however, is the political bickering that surrounds this
festival which has become not just as a tourist attraction but also a
money-making opportunity for unscrupulous officials.
BY LYN V. RAMO
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO
CITY — It’s all systems go for the staging of the 11th Baguio
Flower Festival or Panagbenga officially handled by the Baguio Panagbenga
Flower Festival Association (BFFA).
The impasse on the holding of the city’s
major crowd-drawing event appears resolved, ushering in more than a month
of revelry from January 30 to March 12.
To answer Baguio City Mayor Braulio
Yaranon’s query clarifying the rule of law as invoked by both the BFFA and
the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation (BFFFI), DILG Regional Director
Everdina Doctor issued a statement in December 2005 that an Executive
Order or an Administrative Order has more power than a mere resolution
because the latter is only a temporary measure.
Doctor clarified that the city council's
Resolution 294-05 returning the management of the flower festival to the
BFFFI, is merely an expression of the legislative body’s opinion. However,
it does not have the force and effect of a law and cannot be treated as
superior to an executive order issued by the mayor, Doctor added.
Yaranon and BPFFA co-chairpersons Bishop
Carlito Cenzon and Nelia Cid revealed that during the weekly Ugnayang
Panglungsod that several groups, including those in other regions, will
participate in the Panagbenga, thus making this year’s celebration a
showcase of a truly cosmopolitan city of a unique character and a melting
pot of several cultures.
Despite political bickering which delayed
the preparations, the festival has attracted several other provinces to
participate, according to Cenzon. La Union towns of Naguilian, Burgos,
Bauang and San Fernando City will join the market encounter with their
basi (cane wine), buyboy (tiger grass brooms) and cultural
presentations. La Trinidad
will come with its flowers and strawberries. According to Cenzon, even
provinces in the south like Masbate
are coming.
Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultural
tradeshows will also be featured in three separate dates. The Office of
Muslim Affairs will also participate.
The festival opens on January 30 with the
launching of Barangay Landscaping and Salad
Garden contests; and the
inauguration of the Burnham Lake Lights. Sen. Pia Cayetano, a frequent
visitor, will grace the occasion. Earlier, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
accepted the invitation, but recent developments in the country
necessitated the cancellation of GMA’s provincial trips.
The yearly spectacular street dancing and
drum-and-lyre competition, now dubbed as Flower Power Parade will be on
February 25 followed by the Float Parade and marching band competition or
the Flowers on the Go parade on Feb. 26.
Yaranon maintained that the holding of the
2006 Panagbenga will be solely in the hands of the Baguio community and
not the politicians. “There is only one Panagbenga and this is the
Panagbenga of the Baguio people ,” he said appealing to parties to stop
sowing confusion by saying that there are two Panagbenga celebrations.
The BFFFI also launched its own flower
festival on December 3 after BPFFA has launched its own earlier. However,
because Yaranon has reserved city streets for the official Panagbenga,
parallel activities by other groups may be staged inside the Camp John
Hay, sources said. with reports from Ace Alegre, Aileen Refuerzo and Julie
Fianza/Posted by Bulatlat
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