Dance of the petals: Baguio City abloom in 28th year of Panagbenga

MANILA, Philippines — Baguio City is abloom as it celebrates the Panagbenga Festival this weekend, highlighted by street dancing and flower float parades.

This year’s festival is themed “Celebrating Traditions, Embracing Innovations.”

Wearing colorful dresses decorated with flowers, street dancers from public and private schools in Baguio City and from nearby Benguet, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur and Kalinga wowed revelers and tourists who lined the stretch from Session Road to Harrison Road at the Central Business District to join the partying.

The marching brass band of the Philippine Military Academy livened the dance mood.

This year’s champion in the drum and lyre tilt was Lucban Elementary School which took home P150,000 in prize money. Tuba Central School from Benguet was at second place, winning P100,000, while Manuel Quezon Elementary School was third with P70,000 cash prize.

Emerging champions in the Festival Dance competition were students of Tribu Rizal of Kalinga with P200,000 cash prize. In second place was the Naisangsangayan group of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur with P150,000 prize and third was Baguio City National High School-Special Program for the Arts, which bagged P100,000.

The other street dancers also drew praises. They were from the Bitulok Tribe and Tribu Palayano, of Nueva Ecija, Bani Pakwan and Tribu San Carlos from Pangasinan, Narvacan Naisangsangyan Festival Dance of Ilocos Sur and Tribu Rizal of Kalinga.

Baguio City has been holding its flower festival for 28 years now because of the support of the people and all stakeholders, said Mauricio Domogan, chairman “for life” of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc.