Baguio drops Panagbenga due to COVID-19 threat

CROWD DRAWER For the first time in 25 years, Baguio City is not holding the crowd-drawing Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) this year to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus. —EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — The 25th edition of Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) this year has been scrapped due to the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Mayor Benjamin Magalong announced on Monday.

Magalong and the event’s organizers made the announcement hours after President Duterte declared a state of public health emergency.

The cancellation includes all festival activities and the grand street dancing and float parades, which were supposed to resume on the last Saturday and Sunday of this month.

Panagbenga, scheduled every February, had already been postponed to March at the onset of the global outbreak of COVID-19.

“We’re completely canceling Panagbenga on the basis of the recommendation of the BFFFI (Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc.),” Magalong said at a press briefing here.

He said the decision was made after “an extensive discussion on [national] and domestic situation” amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.

This is the first time that the summer capital skipped the staging of Panagbenga since it was started in 1995 to lure back tourists and revive local businesses after the 1990 Luzon earthquake ravaged the city.

‘Best decision’

“This is the best [decision we could make] for public safety,” said Evangeline Payno, the festival’s executive director.

Magalong said the government would help draw up a recovery plan, as well as a massive promotional campaign, for the local tourism sector. Payno said hotels and the local food industry hope to make up during Holy Week or the summer vacation.

The Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet, which would have drawn 7,000 delegates on March 22, has also been postponed for a second time.

The city’s night market will also be temporarily stopped in the next 14 days beginning Tuesday to reduce activities that draw crowds, Magalong said.

Classes suspended

In Pangasinan province, the municipal governments of Lingayen, Bugallon and Mangatarem on Monday suspended classes in all levels in private and public schools as a precautionary measure amid the threat of COVID-19.

A Filipino woman from Australia, who was recently tested positive for the virus, stayed overnight at her family’s ancestral house in Lingayen on Feb. 22 after attending a high school reunion in Dagupan City.

The woman, in her 60s, also had breakfast in one of the resorts in the province.

Anna de Guzman, Pangasinan provincial health officer, said the woman also visited Aguilar town to have lunch with a former classmate before heading back to Manila.

De Guzman said her office had conducted contact tracing but none of the people who were in close contact with the woman manifested symptoms of COVID-19.

In Cagayan province, the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) pushed through on Monday but its opening parade had been canceled as precaution against the spread of the virus.

About 5,000 students and teachers are participating in the annual event for campus journalists.

In nearby Isabela province, classes in elementary and secondary schools were suspended while the National Festival of Talents (NFOT) started with a few participants in its opening parade. Both the NSPC and NFOT are organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) and will end on March 13.

Amir Aquino, DepEd regional information officer, said they have implemented all necessary precautions against the health risks posed by COVID-19.

In a statement, the DepEd said it was proceeding with the two events since the participants had already arrived in the venues.

Surgical mask required

In Davao del Sur province, Gov. Douglas Cagas has imposed a “no mask, no entry policy” on all employees of and people transacting business at the provincial capitol in Digos City due to potential threats brought about by the coronavirus.

Cagas issued the order on Monday after he learned that two persons with COVID-19 symptoms were being monitored at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City, some 43 kilometers from Digos.

Dr. Leopoldo Vega, SPMC hospital chief, did not disclose details about the patients under investigation, except that they were in the hospital’s isolation room. Their test results had yet to be released, he said.

In Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte canceled the weekly flag-raising rites on Monday and instead asked employees to disinfect their working areas, including those being used to receive the public. Duterte ordered employees not to entertain friends at their workplaces as only guests having official transactions with the city would be received.

In Iloilo City, Mayor Jerry Treñas has postponed three public events—the Iloilo Summer Arts Festival, initially set for April and which will now be held in October; the Iloilo International Bike Festival, scheduled in late March, now moved to November; and the Paraw Regatta sailboat festival, from April to an indefinite period.—Reports from Vincent Cabrez, Yolanda Sotela, Villamor Visaya Jr., Eldie Aguirre, Karlos Manlupig and Nestor P. Burgos Jr.