Despite virus scare, Baguio resuming Panagbenga

EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY—The staging of street dancing and float parades of the Baguio Flower Festival, or Panagbenga and a regional schools sports meet and the return of a rice wine celebration called “Ipikit” best describe this city’s resolve to fight fears over the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Downtown shops have begun restoring flower-themed décor, which they brought down in February after the festival crowd drawers were suspended by Mayor Benjamin Magalong as a precaution against the spread of the virus.

As of March 3, only one patient was completing a mandatory 14-day quarantine after health officials discharged 28 others who were designated as persons under investigation.

At certain hours of the day, the city is inundated with the Panagbenga parade theme song performed by rehearsing school bands.

Normalcy

Elementary school pupils are scheduled to present their new choreography on March 21 when they open the festival with a street dancing parade.

It will be followed on March 22 by the opening of the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet where over 7,000 delegates from various schools are expected to attend.

The festival and other events help bring normalcy to the city but medical workers remain vigilant as global infections rise, Magalong said.

On March 15, for example, people will gather for the annual “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom” event at Burnham Park to paint flowers on white banners that will be displayed during the grand street dancing parade on March 28 and the grand float parade on March 29.

Downtown Session Road will be closed for a week beginning on March 30 for the festival bazaar called “Session Road in Bloom,” before the Holy Week crowd starts arriving on the second week of April.

As Panagbenga winds down, a gathering to honor the cultural and ritual relevance of “tapuy” (rice wine) will be staged once again at Burnham Park from March 28 to April 5.

Ipitik “bridges a gap between generations of Cordillerans and epochs of Cordilleran history, and between the solemnity of a sacred offering and the light-heartedness of a good drink shared among lifetime friends,” said anthropologist Padmapani Lim Perez, one of the organizers.