Politics casts shadow over Baguio Flower Festival

THE 23RD celebration of the Baguio Flower Festival saw a mix of politics during the street dancing parade on February 24, with guest politicians allowed to parade the streets with officials of the city and the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Incorporated.

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos led the contingent of guests with her brother, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and Quezon City 5th District Representative Alfred Vargas.

The Marcos siblings were both given a chance to speak before the crowd at the Athletic Bowl. Imee introduced her younger brother as the Vice President of the Philippines.

The governor congratulated the creative city of Baguio and encouraged constituents to help the city's development.

"Dito sa Baguio maraming kailangang ayusin nakikita natin iyong infrastructure higit sa lahat iyong traffic na inerereklamo mga issues ng waste disposal ng tubig, maraming hassle ang ating mayor. Kailangan maging creative sa pagsosolusyon. We lighten burdens of development and progress if we share with each other," said the governor.

The former senator likewise congratulated the city and thanked the local government for his invitation to grace the annual festival.

Eight contingents from the elementary schools division pitched their best in this year’s street dancing competition with five groups from the high school division and 14 joining the open category delighting with estimated 1 million crowd.

Guest of honor and speaker Francis Tolentino, adviser to the Palace represented President Rodrigo Duterte and read a prepared message.

"I acknowledge the City Government of Baguio, its partners and its people of these years highly anticipated Panagbenga festival. Your shared efforts in this significant undertaking are indeed worthy of thanksgiving. This festival is important not only because it helps boost the economy of the city and the region but also because it highlights Baguio's contribution to our efforts in nation building," said Tolentino.

"This year, Panagbenga is even more special as we celebrate the city of Baguio's inclusion in the UNESCO Creative City's Network," Tolentino added.

Tolentino said the President encouraged efforts preserving culture and traditions of Baguio City and the city as a model of progress as he asked for the support with issues such as criminality, corruption, and illegal drugs.

Baguio Flower Festival executive chairman and councilor Elmer Datuin estimated that close to a million people gathered to witness the street dancing competition.

"We have achieved more than our expectation as far as tourist arrivals is concerned, attendance for this year’s Panagbenga 2018 will also benefit the BLISTT area particularly the nearby towns of La Trinidad, Tuba, and Sablan. We [Baguio] will bring in the tourist but surely they will be benefiting also,” he said.

This year’s festival is themed "Celebration of Culture and Creativity," with participants performing dances and cultural performances at the Baguio Athletic Bowl.

"This is one way of empowering the partnership among the city and municipalities, the tourist will look other destinations other than Baguio city and they will be benefiting from the tourist arrival in the City," Datuin said.

Previously, the BFFI strictly imposed a ban on politicking during the conduct of the street dancing and floral float parade events.

During campaign session, senatorial and other candidates were not allowed to enter the event even if they had their own floats with incumbent political candidates barred from distributing campaign paraphernalia or going down the floats to approach the crowd during the event.

Guests of honor for Sunday’s February 25 float parade included Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo. (With a report from Maria Elena Catajan)

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