Hottest Baguio days greet flower festival visitors
When the Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) theme song starts to play in the street dancing parade today, the performers may be gyrating through unusually warm February weather being experienced by the summer capital.
On the eve of the 17th annual street dancing parade, which is expected to draw thousands of visitors here, the weather bureau recorded temperatures rising to 27.8 degrees Celsius on Friday, the hottest this year.
Leticia Dispo, a weather specialist, said the ridge of high pressure area affecting northern Luzon is giving Baguio warm weather this week, the height of the annual flower festival.
The highest temperature for Baguio in the last 25 years was 30 degrees Celsius, recorded on April 11, 1987.
Aside from the warm weather, expect Panagbenga performers to stay true to the culture and tradition of Cordillera tribes.
While flowers have always been the main theme of the street dancing and floral float parades, the festival organizers want the festival to focus more on indigenous culture, said Laurel Bangaoet, chair of the Baguio Cultural Society.
“The concept of the street dancing will be based on Cordillera legends and rituals. It will be interesting and unusual. We are hoping that this is going to be the best parade so far,” she said.
“We thought of improving the parade and we thought of getting cultural groups. All parades in the past 16 years [were] big attractions. [The street dancing and floats were] beautiful, otherwise people would not come to watch [them].”
But Bangaoet said festival organizers were also aware about criticisms that the presentation and style of previous street performances were no longer influenced by the Cordilleran culture, as the festival had originally intended.
She said visitors would be treated to better performances today, courtesy of 11 street dancing groups, who come from various Cordillera provinces.
A group from Mt. Province is expected to perform the “dance of the eagle” while another from Benguet will present traditional courtship dances.
“Only indigenous music will be played [to accompany the street dancers] but there are innovations. There will be singing and chanting … There will be no pop music,” Bangaoet said.
“We would like to return the character of the Panagbenga, which is Cordilleran,” she said.
Anthony de Leon, executive committee chair of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc., said the Department of Tourism organized and financed the trip of guest performers from other provinces. Desiree Caluza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
