BAGUIO CITY , – The Digital Media Division of ABS-CBN Corporation bared that Panagbenga or the famous Baguio Flower Festival was nominated as one of the five finalists for the Best Festival Category in Choose Philippines Awards 2016.
Choose Philippines is ABS-CBN’s online content hub dedicated to promote local travel and tourism and it is the corporation’s advocacy to share the breathtaking beauty of the country, meaningful experiences that can be shared with the people, the delicious delicacies that is offered and the priceless memories that people get from every local travel.
Choose Philippines will be celebrating its fifth year this 2016 and the program wants to commemorate the milestone through a special celebration through the Choose Philippines Awards.
ABS-CBN extended the invitation to the City Government and the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI) to send their representatives who will be receiving the potential award if it wins during the Awards Night scheduled on December 1, 2016 at the Dolphy Theater, ABS-CBN Compound, Quezon City.
Panagbenga took its name from the Kankana-ey term for blossoming of flowers which is panagbenga considering that the flower festival is being done in time for the blossoming of flowers in the city and surrounding municipalities of Benguet such as La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay.
The flower festival is usually conducted on the first week of February up to the first week of March and it is the longest festival in the country that lasts for more than a month compared to other prestigious festivals in the different parts of the archipelago.
Panagbenga had been reaping national and international awards for the orderly and disciplined conduct of the major events for the festival which are the grand streetdancing parade and the grand float parade that serves as an avenue for participating contingents to display their dynamic and sterling performances along the parade route and the flower-decorated floats appreciated by the local residents and visitors.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan claimed being nominated by a prestigious program of a respected media company as a finalist for the Best Festival category of the Choose Philippines Awards 2016 is a welcome development for the festival organizers because it will serve as inspiration for them to continue striving for the best to guarantee the influx of more foreign and local visitors giving importance to the events lined up for the festival.
“We are proud of the nomination and we hope for the best for Panagbenga. It will be an added feather to the cap of the organizers of the flower festival and we are optimistic that the nomination will be an added boost for the festival to continue moving on to greater heights,” Domogan stressed.
For next year, the Panagbenga will be held from February 1 to March 5 with the theme “Inspired by Beauty, Nurtured by Nature.”
By Dexter A. See
