By Joel B. Belinan
Yesterday and today (February 25 and 26) were the Street Dancing Parade and the Parade of Floats dubbed as the climax of Panagbenga 2023, considered the biggest festival in the north if not the biggest in the entire country, Panagbenga is coming back to its fullest since the world was turned upside down by the Covid 19-pandemic.
The Panagbenga (Flower Festival) is the country’s version of the parade of roses in Pasadena, California, USA. It was started in 1996 by the then vice president of the John Hay Poropoint Development Corporation (JPDC), Atty. Damaso Bangaoet, and supported by then second-term Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan. It is supposed to be in its 26 th iteration this year but had to go dormant due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
As had always been said by former mayor Domogan, Panagbenga was conceptualized to bring tourists to Baguio and nearby towns between December, the peak of visitors’ arrivals, and the summer months (March and April). So the month of February was chosen for this festivity. “We never thought that
Panagbenga would grow this big over the years,” Domogan, who is the Chairman of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFI), said. BFFI is the prime mover of this event. As everyone knows, the mid-90s were the years that the city was just rising from the ashes of the 1990 Earthquake devastation and tourism which was (and still is) the backbone of the city’s economy was just coming back to its feet. The advent of Panagbenga ushered in the sprouting of several other festivals, especially in North of Manila. Among these were the Lang-ay Festival in Mt. Province, Adivay in Benguet, Strawberry Festival in LaTrinidad, Benguet, Bodong Festival in Kalinga, Pistay Dayat in Lingayen, Pangasinan, Kannawidan Festival in Ilocos Sur, among others.
It is interesting to note that before 1996, the most known festivals in the country were the Ati-Atihan in Kalibo Aklan, the Dinagyang in Iloilo City, and the Sinulog in Cebu City.
This year’s Panagbenga event is a real comeback compared with that of last year. As expected, the monstrous problems that come with the influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors such as traffic congestion, garbage, lack of water, and peace and order, to mention a few, will also return. And, yes, the chorus of complaints and rants of residents due to the inconveniences caused by the mentioned problems.
Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, tourist arrivals are the biggest pusher of our local economy. And, hence, I don’t see the government stopping Panagbenga, not now and not soon. I am, however, one of those who is hoping that the boon that Panagbenga and even other tourism-related events in the city would trickle down to the ordinary Juan in Baguio. When Domogan was still the City Mayor, he had been urging the passage of a sales tax where a percentage of the sales of businesses during the festival would be directly remitted to the city. Such sales tax should be spent only on social services that in a way will lessen the inconveniences of the people due to such big events. However, the City Council members as always would not embark on measures that will surely invite a backlash from their usual election benefactors, the bizmen. And so the proposition remains a proposition. **
Talking more about festivals, the biggest gainer this time was the Province of Kalinga which made history after breaking two Guinness World Records for the “ largest gong ensemble and largest banga dance” (pot dancers). The record was made on February 15 that forms part of the Bodong Festival coinciding with the Kalinga Day celebration. Kazuyoshi Kirimura, Guinness World Records official adjudicator, announced the historical record.
Further North in Apayao, the Sayam Festival coinciding with the Apayao Day celebration showed a Panagbenga-like float-decorated parade. These two festivals only show that sooner or later our Panagbenga will be challenged by newer events in the Cordillera. And again such will attract visitors into their locations, hence, the need for the respective local government units to put in place safeguards on expected adverse effects to the host communities. **
