Panagbenga founder passes on in US; cited

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan last week approved council resolution 240 series of 2014, expressing sympathies to the family of the late Atty. Damaso Bangaoet, Jr. who passed on at the age of 74 last Sept. 22 in California, USA.       

Bangaoet, Jr., who was to visit relatives in California and Texas, USA, is acknowledged as the founder of the 18-year-old Panagbenga or Baguio Flower Festival. Aside from being a lawyer and as managing director of Camp John Hay in 1995, Bangaoet, Jr. helped create the flower festival to prop up the tourism industry of Baguio, devastated and in bad shape, from the 1990 earthquake.

Local and foreign visitors to the city were then far and in between, needing to win over tourists with a “family-oriented” celebration, thus the Panagbenga in February was born. Panagbenga, a Kankana-ey term for “time of blossoming” is a tourist come-on and booster for entrepreneurs, with Bangaoet, Jr at the helm during its first staging in 1996.  He, together with city officials and organizers, took care of the festival which “grew and grew,” up to 2002. The management of the festival was then passed on to the city, and later to the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI).  

In 2008-2009, “Atty. Dammy” as he is fondly called, together with wife Laurel, produced and directed a bible-based musical “Joseph,” with proceeds going to the United Church of Christ (UCCP) social programs.   

In 2012, Bangaoet as member of the Board worked for Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) to be a 400-bedroom “wellness center.” The open spaces of BGHMC were coaxed to greenery, the only facility to have such. 

Bangaoet,Jr.,’s “effort and contribution has been well appreciated by the city constituency,” “and “his untimely demise is a great loss not only to his family, friends, legal profession but to the city as well,” the resolution reads.

His cremated remains shall be brought home to Baguio, to be honored on Oct. 7 at the Baguio Convention Center,Domogan informed the public during the media Ugnayan at city hall. –Julie G. Fianza