Cold weather fails to snag summer events

By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- The lingering chill may be slowing down summer but the city is on schedule in laying out its annual “Summer Vacation” calendar accenting on its status as a spiritual haven, tourism destination and as the country’s summer capital.

“It’s go,” said vice-mayor Daniel Farinas after the SUMVAC activities were finalized last Monday in keeping up with mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr’s. administrative order to continue the special events program.

Today’s Palm Sunday church services will open Lent, together with a pictorial on the city’s churches mounted by the various religious denominations at the Malcolm Square.

The annual Holy Week trek to Baguio of thousands of people to escape the lowland heat will be marked Thursday with the traditional selection of the “Lucky Summer Visitors” of Baguio-Benguet and the “Lucky Foreign Visitors”.

Members of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club led by Pigeon Lobien will pick the lucky domestic visitors while the National Correspondents Club of Baguio under Nars Padilla will select the foreign visitors.

Both types of visitors will be in for a special treatment, which includes guided tours, accommodations, aside from souvenirs to bring home during their send-off on Easter Sunday.

Baguio’s organizations of elderly residents will mark Good Friday with a “Candle Light and Prayer Rally” at the Burnham Park lakeside, also the site of an Easter Sunrise mass.

The schedule next month will open with the oath-taking of members of the various Sangguniang Kabataan barangay chapters on April 6. This will be followed by the “Araw ng Kagitingan” rites marking the “Fall of Bataan” on April 9.

SUMVAC will be given an environmental dimension on April 22, Earth Day, with a symposium sponsored by the Baguio Regreening Movement on the state of the tributaries of the Balili River and renewed efforts to restore them back to life.

The BRM, headed by city councilor Erdolfo Balajadia and Dr. Julie Cabato is also set to launch same day a “Walk, Baguio, Walk” program as a means of cleaning up the urban air of engine smoke and smog.

Surviving veterans of the second world war will preside over rites celebrating the liberation of Baguio on April 27 at the memorial park built along Harrison Rd. by members of the famed 66th Infantry Regiment.

On the same day, Teachers Camp, the country’s summer training facility for educators, will mark its centennial with a parade with floats depicting its history.

Labor Day rites are set on May 1, followed by the city’s participation in the “Aliwan Festival” in Manila on the first week, and the “Santacruzan” on May 14-17.

Groups coming up with their own projects this summer may contact city administrator Pter Fianza or city tourism officer Benny Alhambra who were designated by mayor Bautista as action officers of SUMVAC 2008.