Wednesday, January 17, 2007 'Unfair' Panagbenga festival guidelines rued By Rimaliza Opiña
THE supposed community-based participation in the 12th Panagbenga edition as projected by the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI) "failed miserably" in consulting various stakeholders.
Businesswoman Edna Anton said the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB), this year's organizer of the "Session Road in Bloom" activity, said business establishments along Session Road were not consulted when the organizer decided to prohibit the use of their respective frontages for the affair and limited the put-up of stalls or pavilions only in the middle of the road.
"They experimented at our expense," Anton told members of the City Council on Tuesday, adding the HRAB's accommodation of foreign participants, whom she pointed out are not taxpayers of Baguio, is in direct competition with their businesses.
And unlike the establishments already situated in the area, Anton said the would-be participants, especially those who would be selling food, are not equipped with proper garbage disposal, water and toilet facilities.
"You might as well keep the road open. Malulugi kaming lahat," stressed Anton, who operates Sizzling Plate at the heart of Session.
She said Session Road businessmen were not also given the chance to have their say on the rules imposed by the HRAB because the guidelines had already been ironed out when they were invited to a meeting, supposedly to discuss the rules for the "Session Road in Bloom."
The activity involves the closure of the city's main road from vehicular traffic to transform the thoroughfare into a promenade area, where sidewalk cafes and souvenir stores are put-up for one week. This year, the "Session Road in Bloom" is scheduled from February 26 to March 1.
Through the years however, the "Session Road in Bloom", although considered as one of the biggest crowd-drawing activities of Panagbenga aside from the street dancing and float parades, slowly turned out into a baratilyo and market place because ready-to-wear clothes, second-hand clothes, underwear, kitchen ware and street foods, among others, had been openly sold.
HRAB chairman Anthony de Leon, meanwhile, said their group merely wanted to put order to the activity and that there was no intent on their part to undermine the businesses in the area.
While admitting that no consultation was done, de Leon said the basis for the "innovations" done for the 2007 Panagbenga came from feedbacks from the public as well as from members of the HRAB who also do business at Session Road.
"We just wanted to improve the 'Session Road in Bloom'. We want to clear the sidewalks. The feedback before was that it was disorganized," de Leon said.
The City Council advised affected Session Road businessmen and the HRAB to thresh out their differences, as they, aside from giving government support, no longer have any direct participation in the affair after approving a resolution giving back the management of Panagbenga to the BFFFI.
Activities lined up by the HRAB for the "Session Road in Bloom" include a culinary festival featuring American and French cuisines, a showcase of landscape architecture and floral display and exhibits of works of art like sculpture and painting among others. And instead of rock bands, an orchestra would also be showcased to entertain promenaders.
