A Panagbenga character

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – It is a matter of concern that organizers of the Panagbenga or flower festival in this city of diminishing pines are once again trying to push their weight over city folk.

They even made rules for the media to follow. No newsman is allowed in certain places to cover the event if he is not accredited by organizers. Somebody should tell them, particularly their top honcho, that that is a violation of the constitutional provision of freedom of the press.

Uttot ti palikwawa, my bubwit would say. Organizers are led by a manager of an elite club where big boys go to play their balls and boost their egos trying to outdo each other by showing off their latest toys, be it cars, pretty women, and yes, for some – boys like you know who.
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This character some years ago, lectured Baguio media during a press conference on how they should report events. He and his peers were complaining that due to media reports, visitors and tourists shunned the city as a result due of the meninigococcemia scare. They said local media should be more responsible in their reportage.

They were telling newsmen how to write the news. But by the way some of them talked, they didn’t know their grammar. Their media release was also full of errors a grade school kid could have cringed on reading it. Whoever made it should have been shot along with their top honcho who may have read it but couldn’t discern the booboos.

Anyhow, this honcho said news reports resulted to low income of hotels and restaurants in the city and this was the fault of media. I don’t know if he has a doctorate in journalism if ever there was one lofty title but he looked so arrogant with a cigarette in two fingers and a microphone in his other hand.

I seldom talk during press conferences but what he said and the way he said lecturing the media like they were schoolchildren got my goat. I told him he need not tell us how to do our jobs since we don’t tell them how to do their jobs. Among others, I told him it was bad taste since we follow a code of ethics for journalists and report the news as objectively as possible.

A pissed off Willie Cacdac, the late veteran newsman followed suit and gave the organizers a piece of his mind, words that were hard to swallow.
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Over the years, this character wormed his way as top honcho of the Panagbenga and now, he is again trying to dictate his will on how media should act and report.

Domecio Cimatu, also a veteran newsman, after the election of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club last week aired his deep displeasure on why local media, particularly those who are active, are not doing something to correct what he called the imposition of rules of this character on how media should cover Panagbenga. “Tabbed,” vintage Domci shouted eliciting guffaws during the bonfire at the grounds of the Philippine Information Agency.

The hard-hitting Ka Ben of Mountain Cable TV had also been vocal in his announcements that they would boycott Panagbenga by not covering it owing to the machinations of this character.

During the bonfire, other news networks said they were also planning a boycott to air their displeasure. “Hindi marunong lumingon sa pinagggalingan,” they said of this character who reportedly rose from his status as a waiter by pitting two wealthy families against each other. It was also this character who pushed a mediaman whose leg was amputated during a funeral mass.
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The character’s media lackeys should tell him that the older guys are displeased with his actuations. Most top honchos of news networks said organizers should remember that it was local media which made the event into what it is now -- for free. What gets their goat is why the media from imperial Manila are given preferential treatment over the locals in terms of advertisements or when they come for a visit. The term for it as my bubwit would say – “inggrata.”
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You see, call it “outstanding” or “grandstanding” as a councilor would say, this character said politicking during the 15th staging of the Panagbenga Festival would be a big no-no, especially during the grand street dancing and float parade on Feb. 27 and 28. (See, that is another free plug.)

As long as they abide by the rules, politicians are welcome, said the top honcho of this privately run but government-supported event. “Candidates cannot join the street dancing as they could interrupt the event by shaking hands with the spectators,” he said. “The politicians will only be allowed to join the float parade “if they have their own floats too. They, however, cannot go down from their floats to woo voters. Their floats, too, should follow the theme of the Panagbenga Festival and should not carry any political stickers, flyers or tarpaulins.”
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The festival’s street dancing and float parade, which attract at least 200,000 spectators along Baguio’s main streets yearly, have proven to be a perfect venue for political candidates.

The past years, especially during the 2004 and 2007 elections, national candidates joined the parade, but got jeers instead. In 2007, Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. personally dissuaded then Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando from bringing his own float, warning, “Baguio residents do not want politics within Panagbenga.” Fernando never showed up.

In 2007, administration candidates joined the second day of the revelry on board a float. One of them, Prospero Pichay, even had his own Surigao-surfing float while his helicopter hovered above the whole time, drowning out the music of the Panagbenga brass band. None of the administration candidates won here.

Festival organizers particularly this character, have yet to reveal if any presidential hopefuls or other candidates intend to join this year’s event. But like my bubwit would say: “Uttot ti palikwawa.” For those who don’t understand Ilocano, it means “fart of a butterfly.”