BAGUIO CITY — City Mayor Mauricio Domogan has signed Administrative Order (AO) 175 s 2016 reconstituting the committees for the conduct of the 22nd Baguio Flower Festival: Panagbenga 2017.
The AO will ensure the smooth conduct of the festival and to avoid overlapping activities which will be participated in by both the government and private sectors.
The Panagbenga is an annual tourism event spearheaded by the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc (BFFFI) and the local government unit (LGU) of Baguio City.
The festival promotes Baguio City as a “City of Flowers” to include its diverse culture and tradition, tourism and economic industries.
Activities of Panagbenga are planned, organized and implemented by the program committees as the policy review committee oversees the implementation, with the executive committee coordinates the activities for proper execution.
Domogan heads the Program Review Committee, Baguio City Vice-mayor Edison Bilog as co-chairperson.
Committee members include Baguio City Councilors Elmer Datuin and Michael Lawana, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) officials Anthony de Leon, Frederico Alquiros and Evangeline Payno, former Baguio City Representative Bernardo Vergara, Architect Joseph Alabanza, Dr. Julie Cabato, and Ramon Cabrera.
Department of Tourism – Cordillera Regional Office (DOT-CAR) director Venus Tan, Philippine Information Agency – Cordillera Regional Office (PIA-CAR) director Helen Tibaldo, Dr. Leonarda Aguinalde – University of the Cordilleras (UC), lawyer Renato Rondez – Baguio Water District (BWD), lawyer Augustin Laban III – Department of Education-Cordillera Division Office (DepEdCAR).
Baguio City Representative Marquez Go is the honorary chairman of the committee.
The committee in charge of the opening parade on February 1 and the Grand Street ancing on February 25 and the Panagbenga Cultural Committee will be chaired Councilor Datuin with Alquiros as the co-chair.
The Grand Floral Float Parade will be chaired by HARB president Anthony de Leon.
The Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Handog ng Panagbenga Sa Pamilya Baguio committee will be chaired by Alquiros and Councilor Peter Fianza, while the Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition committee will be headed by Councilor Elaine Sembrano and Annabelle Ramos.
Mary Lou Galiste will head the Session Road in Bloom committee with Councilor Lilia Farinas; Councilor Lawana will head the pony boys’ day with the Baguio Pony Boys’ Association president as co-chair.
AO 175 mandates that the committees “come out with necessary ways and means, styles and procedures of running the activities respectively assigned to them, not violative of the rules promulgated for Panagbenga 2017 and subject to the executive committees’ powers of supervision and monitoring.”
AO 175 also provides that “all net proceeds realized in the conduct of the 2017 Panagbenga shall accrue to the BFFFI as additional starting fund for the 23rd Baguio Flower Festival: Panagbenga 2018.” Jojo Lamaria/PNA-northboundasia.com