BFFFI was formed in July 2002 after which the City Council passed a resolution designating the mayor as the chair of a body to manage the flower festival.

Chie Galvez, secretary-general of the Tongtongan ti Umili (TTU or People’s Forum), the city chapter of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) said city officials should look into the audit report and exercise its authority over “erring public officials.”

“Public funds have to be accounted for and it is but apt for Baguio constituents to hold their officials responsible,” Galvez said in an interview. “Those found guilty of graft and corruption should be made to answer in the proper venue,” she added, hinting at a possible filing of graft charges before appropriate courts by concerned citizen groups.

TTU urged the present administration to pursue the resolution of the issues raised by the COA and have those accountable properly sanctioned. The accounting report demanded of Manaois, Clemente, Tabin, Vergara and Domogan should once and for all be completed. The Baguio people have the right to know where their money was spent.

“We also urge the Baguio citizenry to demand for transparency and accountability in the use of public funds for Panagbenga celebrations and all government transactions,” Galvez said in an interview.

Long and lonely crusade

Then Coun. Braulio Yaranon twice proposed a resolution asking for the accounting of city funds given to the 2003 and 2004 staging of the flower festival. Yaranon then started saying that millions in people’s taxes went to the pocket of politicians and their cohorts in City Hall through the flower festival.

When he ran for the mayoralty seat in 2004, Yaranon made it his campaign battle cry to hold those accountable for the “theft of government funds.” He created a multi-stakeholder group, the Baguio Flower Festival Association (BFFA) to handle the Flower festival during his term as the city mayor.

Not a single centavo from the government coffers was spent for the Panagbenga in 2005 and 2006, although Clemente said there are advances from the BFFFI funds in those years.

Yaranon, however, kept the management of the festival to the government, although he involved the private sector and even the religious in running the affair.

Two Panagbengas

Tension loomed in 2005. There was an over-extended celebration to cover losses incurred by the BFFA, which was then claiming that the extension in the trade fair would help recoup the losses.

What seemed wrong to the City Council, however, was the involvement of a private promotions company, Publicis Dialogue, Inc. which took 25 percent of the promotions income, through a contract that the council did not confirm.

This built tension again between the legislative and the executive departments, which added more controversy to the 2005 Panagbenga, on top of other old controversies that allegedly marred the earlier flower fests.

Bangaoet resigned as co-chair of the BFFA and eventually managed the Adivay, another tourism-driven affair in nearby La Trinidad, Benguet, almost simultaneously with the Panagbenga that year.

In 2006, there were two bodies preparing for the Panagbenga, after the council returned the lead role to the BFFI, thus the controversial staging of two Panagbengas arising from its discontent over the alleged BFFA “failure” in 2005.

Obviously, Congressman Mauricio Domogan is the personality behind BFFI up to the present, while Yaranon allegedly controlled BFFA.  Bangaoet and Catholic Bishop Carlito Cenzon, however, were involved in BFFI and BFFA, respectively.

Bautista boasted of a unified Panagbenga management in 2007.  It was also returned to the original concept of a private-sector led, government-supported, and community-initiated tourism activity.  Bangaoet called it his curtain call and made sure the holding of the activities was beyond criticism.

Again, organizers claimed no government funding for the flower fest and income was envisioned for the promotion of tourism and livelihood.  Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

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