Baguio launches flower fest 'Panagbenga 2024'

This Dec. 18 photo shows a scene during the launch of Panagbenga 2024. -- PIO

BAGUIO CITY — This summer capital launched its 2024 edition of the famed flower festival, “Panagbenga,” Monday morning, six days before Christmas and more than month before the month-long fest on February.
    On its 28th year, Panagbenga (or invented local term for a Season of Blooming) 2024 celebrations was themed: “Celebrating traditions, embracing innovation.”
    Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. president Frederico Alquiros said the festival will draw tourists in Baguio on newer and bigger heights.

    "It is not just a festival, but a pride of the City of Baguio where diverse cultures of the people come together to showcase the beauty of the City of Pines,” Alquiros said.
    "This envisages the festival as a beacon for the harmonious coexistence of the old and new. It is an invitation to experience the richness of Baguio's floral and cultural heritage and to participate and to participate in the innovative spirit that promises a thriving a resilient future for the City," he added.
    "Panagbenga" was created in the year 1995 by lawyer Damaso Bangaoet of the then John Hay Poro Point Development Authority.
    It started during the term of former Baguio City Mayor and lawmaker Mauricio Domogan, as a symbol of the rising up of Baguio from the rubbles and devastation from the 1990 killer earthquake.
    Cordillera Tourism director Jovy Ganongan said she was hopeful the 2024 Panagbenga topbilled by the BFFI Inc., the private organizer, will be a very exciting celebration.
    Chairman of executive committee of the Baguio Flower Festival and board of trustee of the BFFI Inc. Anthony de Leon, who is general manager of Baguio Country Club (BCC) said the organizing committee aligning with the festival’s theme “will have to come up with more adaptable events that can be tourism-friendly and at the same time friendly to the environment.” 
    "We will focus on that more," he added.
    De Leon urged more participation from the community and people around Baguio,” because we can just be half successful if we get the support and participation of the community.”
    Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong promised neighboring towns around Baguio (La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tuba) of greater participation and economic benefits from the upcoming festival as he expects “more tourists coming in,”
He estimated some 1.8 million tourists attending the whole festival duration.
    The mayor said the festival is “a private sector-led, but government supported” endeavor. 
    "We will provide all the support needed from the local government," Magalong said.