The blooming beauties of Baguio

MANILA, Philippines - It’s that time of the year again when the highland beauties of Baguio happily descend upon the city and glide down the streets in pomp and pageantry. I swear never in my life have I seen as many exotic, long-stemmed, flawless stunners — truckloads of enticing eye candy — in one place as in the Panagbenga flower festival, now in its 18th year.

So, here we are at Panagbenga 2014, wrapped in warm clothes on a chilly Saturday, having risen before dawn to catch the morning dew and the grand street parade (the grand float parade comes on the following day) as it weaves its way around Session Road, Baguio City’s main happening thoroughfare that’s abloom with restos and stores. It helps that we had a really hearty breakfast of daing na bangus and rice and omelette (for me) and sausage and adobo (for my companions), downed with freshly brewed coffee at The Twist, The Forest Lodge, our home-sweet-home in Baguio for four days and three nights.

Floral works of art

Where have all the flowers of Baguio gone? Gone to Panagbenga, where assorted, vari-colored blooms adorn floats that cost up to a staggering half a million pesos to put up. Indeed, Baguio’s artists deserve more than flowery compliments for their monumental floral masterpieces fashioned out of the most heavenly flowers I have ever seen on earth — roses of all colors, tulips, orchids, chrysanthemums, daffodils, violets, statice, baby’s breath, anthuriums, daisies, sunflowers, and a lot of other flowers I can’t really identify except to say that they’re all gorgeous. The indefatigable people behind the festival, led by Mayor Mauricio Domogan, chairman Anthony de Leon, and co-chair Freddie Alquiros, assure us that after the festival, there won’t be a shortage of flowers in La Trinidad Benguet’s flower farms or in Baguio’s flower market. (Neither will there be a shortage of strawberries in Baguio, even after we practically wiped out the strawberry supply in the fruit market. Imagine the freshest, juiciest strawberries selling for only P130 per kilo.) Meanwhile, we can only muse that someday soon, Baguio, being the flower capital of the Philippines, will have a really thriving modern flower market to showcase the blooming beauties of Baguio (which are not really meant to blush unseen) to local and foreign tourists.

This is only my second Panagbenga and this year’s attendance, so the organizers were happy to note, was double that of last year. Surely, Panagbenga gets bigger and better each year. And some of my companions, who are Panagbenga veterans, are already looking forward to next year’s festival.

For a bit of history: The Baguio Flower Festival Foundation organizes this annual flower festival is celebrated every February to boost tourism in Baguio and the rest of the Cordilleras through showcasing various events, exhibitions, shows, and activities that promote the history, traditions, and values of Baguio and the Cordilleras.

In 1995, the festival got is official logo chosen from the entries at the Annual Camp John Hay Art Contest. Theme of the contest focused on the preservation of the environment with emphasis on the flowers of the Cordilleras. The winning entry, by Trisha Tabangin of Baguio City National High School, showed a dazzling spray of sunflowers. Soon after, a festival hymn was composed by Professor Macario Fronda of Saint Louis University. To this, the rhythm and movements of the Bendian dance, an Ibaloi dance of celebration, was added. The dance’s circular movements display unity and harmony among members of the tribe — a foreshadowing of the coming together of the various sectors of the community to bring the flower festival to life.

’Tis the season for flowering

In 1997, the flower festival took on a local name: Panagbenga, which comes from the Kankanaey term for “a season for blossoming, a time for flowering.” It was a name suggested by Ike Picpican, an archivist and curator of the Saint Louis University Museum.

Mao’s “Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom” became a kickoff activity of the festival where, a full week before the festival official opening, Baguio City’s artists (and there’s a whole lot of ’em), young and old, male and female, literally make a thousand flowers bloom with their canvases and brushstrokes.

Through the years, the flourishing of the community spirit has become the most eloquent testimony that the festival has found a soft spot in the hearts of the people of Baguio.

“The Panagbenga came from the grand cañao, where all the mountain tribes — the Ibaloys, the Bontocs, the Kalingas, etc. — were brought to Baguio,” relates Heinrich Maulbecker, managing director of The Manor at Camp John Hay, Baguio, who probably knows the history and culture of Baguio better than most local residents. “But they were all jealous of each other, thinking one is better than the other.  Something went wrong so it was cancelled.”

He quickly adds, “If you know the culture of the people of Benguet, they would slaughter animals to thank God, the Creator, for the food that feeds their families and guests and ask for strength that nobody gets sick. That’s something very civilized. But the church didn’t like it. The official pastor, a fire-and-brimstone Belgian priest, didn’t like it. So, in lieu of the cañao, they said let’s make a flower festival. We had the first Fil-Am golf tournament and the mayor came in G-string and the regalia of his tribe. But before the ceremonial tee-off, he had a ritual done to make sure all the guests who came had water that was pure for them to drink.”

and the awards go to ...

For the float competition, the awards go to: International Pharmaceuticals Inc., 1st prize winning P200,000; Department of Agriculture, 2nd, with P175K; and Manila North Luzon Tollways Corp. with P150K.

For the street dance open competition, the awards go to: Kamora National High School, 1st prize, P200K; Baguio City National High School-Main, P150K, 2nd prize; Pinsao National High School, 3rd, P100K.

For the street dance and lyre, elementary, the awards go to: Mabini Elementary, 1st, P130K; Baguio Central Elementary, 2nd, P110K; Baguio Sped Center, 3rd, P90K; Quezon Hill Elementary, 4th, P70K; Jose P. Laurel Elmentary, 5th, P50K.

Over the past 18 years, people have been going up to Baguio for Panagbenga. Of course, people come to Baguio to escape Manila’s oppressive heat and pollution and enjoy the mountain air as well as Baguio’s art and culture. Assorted couples come to Baguio to get married and spend their honeymoon.

“Baguio is the center of tourism development in all of Northern Luzon,” asserts Maulbecker. “There are a lot of things to do all the way up to Baguio, from San Fernando all the way to Laoag — from scuba diving to hiking, biking, trekking, spelunking, etc.”

If we may add, Baguio may well be a beauty destination, too, where one can have treatments (nothing invasive) and spend some downtime and nobody would really know (except perhaps during peak season when a lot of people who know in Manila are in Baguio).

“In the old days, when I came up here, everybody had friends because they were born here or they met their wives here. Thirty years ago in Baguio, we didn’t have to do anything, everybody knew what they wanted to do. Now, we have a generation who doesn’t know what to do.”

Long live the king!

I know exactly what you should do when you’re in Baguio, especially if you love good food (who doesn’t). Go to Le Chef at The Manor, situated 5,000 feet above sea level, and try Billy King’s heaven-sent cooking. For instance, for lunch today, Saturday, we’re having, for starters, marinated salmon & crab roulade in dill honey mustard dressing, hot & sour soup, a most sumptuous grilled chicken pesto with putanesca pasta for the main course, and a most divine blueberry yogurt gateau for dessert.

Billy King was ahead of his time; before the resto craze came in, he already had his Le Souffle (whose delicious memories still linger in my taste buds).

Meeting Billy King again up close and personal, we overhear him dictating orders on the phone. Billy is very hands-on when it comes to choosing the raw materials for every dish that comes out of his kitchen — only the freshest and the best will do.

Billy will not compromise, he’s always been known for his clean, simple, creative dishes. “You really have to source well, down to the salt and pepper and fresh herbs used,” he stresses. “If you have a great olive oil and you use a lousy vinegar, you’ll have a lousy vinaigrette. It’s a combination, everything has to be right.”

Le Chef flies in fish and seafood from as far as Davao, Dipolog, and Gensan. It gets its veggies from Urdaneta, and organic stuff from Baguio, Clark, and Tagaytay. It gets its cherry tomatoes from an Italian farmer who has a farm outside Clark.

“It’s all about quality of raw materials, presentation, taste, consistency, quality of service, and ambience,” Billy enumerates what Le Chef’s not-so-secret recipe for success.

Of course, being a great lover of Filipino food, Billy can whip up a Pinoy dish (with a twist) for diners anytime.  Like his own version of our adobo and his fish or prawn tinola. “A classic peppersteak is a classic peppersteak, I have no right to change it. But if I cook adobo, you’ll surely come back for it,” Billy assures us with a big smile.

A simple eater, Billy will sometimes only have a plate of goat cheese with olive oil, black pepper, rosemary, rock salt, and some bread. He calls this dish the coup d’etat because it was what he prepared for the rebels who occupied his Urdaneta apartment without any lights during the 1988 coup.

To this day, Billy wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and works 16 to 18 hours a day. Clearly, what keeps Billy going is his great passion for food. “I create a dish in my mind; I have created dishes and I never tasted any one of them,” he says. 

Despite his grueling schedule (which includes catering), Billy is having the time of his life. “When it becomes like hard work, I won’t do it anymore,” he declares with a passion.

Billy is also expanding The Manor’s delicatessen. If you love the multigrain bread and the raisin bread (like I do), you now have a lot more to bring home from The Manor’s deli. Have you tried Billy King’s strawberry jam and orange marmalade?  Or the rum butter cake and the Irish tea bread? “We’ll have more jams, more of everything, and we will expand our wine selection — the climate here is like Europe, it’s okay for wines,” promises Billy.

Yes, when in Baguio, enjoy the fragrant smell of flowers, a whiff of fresh country air, and the delicious aroma wafting from Le Chef’s great kitchen.