Unity bets steal show at Panagbenga flower festival in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY – It seemed to be everything but a flower festival as senatorial candidates, blooming with campaign promises, came in full force to steal the show at the Panagbenga Festival here.

The senatorial bets and their supporters took advantage of the huge crowd to campaign in the annual event that organizers had desperately tried to shield from politics.

"If they want to join, they can as guests,’’ said lawyer Damaso Bangaoet, co-chairperson of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. and who is also considered the father of the celebration, which dates back to 1995.

Administration candidates squeezed their way into the crowded Central Business District here to shake hands and give away campaign materials and goodies.

Team Unity candidates were more visible at the festival than their opposition counterparts.

Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan said the administration candidates, unlike the opposition bets, sought permission for inclusion in the festival activities and were even provided with a float.

"Unfortunately, the opposition camp did not coordinate with us. But they can join the parade. They are all welcome,’’ Domogan said.

Team Unity bet Rep. Prospero Pichay even had his own "Surigao Surfing’’ float, while aloft during the festival was a blue private chopper on whose belly was emblazoned his campaign signage. The helicopter rained confetti – or campaign materials – on the festival crowd.

"More difficulties lie ahead for the country, including economic stagnation, if the senatorial candidates of the opposition are elected to the Senate,’’ Pichay told the crowd.

Some 200,000 people – potential voters – were estimated to have queued along Session Road, Magsaysay Ave., Harrison Road to the Athletic Bowl to watch the three-hour parade.

Another Team Unity candidate Michael Defensor turned to candy-throwing but was later told to stop as organizers feared he might trigger a stampede.

Award-winning actor and Team Unity senatorial bet Cesar Montano, who was with his wife actress Sunshine Cruz, was a consistent crowd drawer.

To Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit’’ Singson, the warm reception received by administration candidates showed the slim chances of the Genuine Opposition bets on May 14.

Opposition senatorial bet Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano also turned up at the festival, together with Rep. Joel Villanueva of the party-list Citizens Battle Against Corruption or Cibac.

A stone’s throw away from the Team Unity float, GO guest candidate Sen. Manuel Villar danced to the tune of a campaign ditty, drawing wild applause from the crowd.

But some were dismayed. "They should not have brought politics here,’’ a Makati City professional who declined to be named said.

"This is supposed to be a festival and not a political event,’’ a Baguio resident said.

Seen mounted on the administration float were Sen. Joker Arroyo, Sen. Edgardo Angara, Sen. Ralph Recto, Singson, fomer senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Montano.