Baguio Panagbenga Festival postponed

Baguio City, Philippines – Mayor Benjamin Magalong through PIO Baguio said the events which are supposed to be conducted on Feb. 1 until March 7, 2021 for the Panagbenga Festival will be put on hold until such time that the procured vaccine by the city government will be rolled out.

This, according to Magalong, will help ensure the health and safety of the public and as precautionary measure against the Covid-19 disease especially now that a new variant which is more contagious has come out.

Decision was made during a meeting on Friday, January 15 with the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI).

Previously, the city mayor approved the conduct of limited events of the Panagbenga 2021 on the aforementioned dates to support the local tourism industry regain its vibrancy.

Said festival was also cancelled last year following the COVID-19 global pandemic that affected most countries in the world.

It could be recalled that the local chief executive said that the approved initial activities of the flower festival include landscaping competition among schools and barangays and other similar activities that will not draw huge crowds of people to converge in certain areas.

The Panagbenga festival was conceptualized in 1995 to be a community-led and government-supported event that eventually grew into one of the country’s major tourist attractions that feature the blossoming of the flowers in nearby Benguet and some parts of the city.