Panagbenga Festival, the Complexities

The 17th Panagbenga probably has presented one of the unique innovations done with its street dancing parade shifting from the original flower filled dances backed with pop music into cultural presentations. This and many other events earned lots of positive and negative reactions from the audience. I believe all festivals have complexities.

With the final showdown at the Athletic Bowl, Cordillerans seem to have improved in showcasing their ethnic customs. However, the supposed street dancing parade was past paced along the stretch of Session and Harrison roads that the audience there complained for the lack of entertainment.

As my friend Fiscal Elmer Sagsago said of his visitors who came all the way from Bicol, “They came expecting a lot of dancing during the street dancing competition but were very disappointed. If you invite guests to your City to be entertained, make sure that they will be entertained,” said Sagsago. Many other guests share the same sentiment and they did not care to follow them to the athletic bowl because they didn’t expect a grander show.


The problem the organizers had been trying to solve was the pacing of the parade. As the BFFFI Chairman explained, “if we solve the pacing, we lose the entertainment value. But if we focus on the entertainment value, it will affect the pacing.” It probably is one of the most common problems of festivals.

During the early years of the Panagbenga festival, 2 minutes were allotted for each participant to perform in designated areas on the streets. This causes big gaps in between participants. But are the big gaps a big problem among the audience? As one of the execrators commented, “I believe the gap is the least of their worries and they’d rather enjoy watching the performances which is the reason why they came.”

Another issue among the observers is the extended 2-day parade. It was stretched so that the two parades could be finished earlier in the day. It has also more income potential for businesses with more days for tourists to stay in the City.

A veteran journalist who had been covering many festivals told me that long parades are not problems in other parts of the country, the longer the parades, the better. The festivals like the Sinulog starts at 8 in the morning and ends at 12 midnight and people enjoy them and they don’t complain.

They have concentrated their effort for that one day grand show and they have successfully generated longing for the audience that sponsors are willing to bestow their support giving away more than enough budget to make a spectacular festival.

As my journalist friend said, our festival in Baguio seems to be concentrated on the income the city can generate than to the quality that it was stretched thin throughout the month of February in five weeks of scattered activities.
Yet sponsors seem to be backing away to give their full support for the festival with less and less funds to spend for a grander showcase.

Another friend who has observed the growth of the festival through the years compared it to a cup of peanut that if placed on a large plate, the peanut would look very little for not filling the whole space. But if the same amount of peanut is placed on a small saucer, it would look plenty.

Less is more would be the statement. Putting all the Panagbenga events in 1 week instead of 1 month would perhaps become a dream vacation for many tourists, but of course, less income to the businesses sector. How can we satisfy the audience at the same time maximize the potential to the business sector? It is now a question how to balance quality and quantity.

One suggestion I received from another friend is there should be more promotions. People from other places only think of the main parade when they hear Panagbenga.


Every activity should have its own advertising budget, not a collective promotion for the whole event. Although the fluvial parade was a disappointment this year, this was one of the unique events that this friend of mine wanted to see because of the photos he saw in a magazine published last year, Yet it completely skipped his mind because he did not see any separate advertisement promoting it. There may have been ads but not enough that not many people noticed.

He said all of the activities during the Panagbenga have potentials to be Grand National events. The “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom” could attract national or even international artists who are willing to come and create a painting that they can give away to Panagbenga and the foundation can earn by auctioning them.

With only one famous artist we can invite to come, many others will follow. And many of the best artists who can draw crowds live right in the neighborhood.

The Pony Boys day too can attract more participants it its games if properly advertised.

I do agree that if we can’t compress all the events together, separate promotions should be given more attention. I promoted the “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom” event to online facebook groups, many came and have created beautiful designs that were chosen to be included in the parades. And that was just me. How much more when there are people dedicated to do that kind of promotions to all groups in the country? Perhaps even this event can create big income potential when it’s hyped in all advertising media.

Like what my friend said, there’s a possible way to address the quality and not loss in quantity for this festival. We may not need to hire more people to do it, just use proper mechanisms.

"Fun in the Philippines" Blunder

A photo of Thailand used in The Straits Times baring the new DOT campaign "It's more fun in the Philippines" is now one of the rising issues online.

The photo below was credited to the Department of Tourism in the online version of the News paper.


Here's the print version of the paper published on January 12, 2012.

The photo was formerly published online showing the Shongkaran Festival of Thailand.


Irresponsible reportage?
Department of Tourism Blunder?
An individual's deception?

I for one will not blame the reporter if that photo has indeed come from the Department of Tourism. If for some reason, an individual just want to make fun of the logo and the DOT readily accepted it, then perhaps that department should be the one to be educated first about our tourism for they don't know what are ours and what are not.

But if the photo was not from DOT but only attributed to them like they claimed, then the responsibility is to the journalist especially if the photo was only downloaded online.

I don't like the new slogan but I don't want to reject it. Compared to the "Pilipinas kay Ganda", there are many ways to make it work. We can promote the Philippines as a place of Fiestas, Adventures, Foods, Beaches, etc.

Yet, if our Department Heads don't have enough knowledge and don't explore for new ideas to promote tourism, our new campaign will not go far and we'll just have another useless battle cry striving after the wind. I do believe there are many talented individuals who can make this campaign escalate.

Yes, it's fun in the Philippines as what our colleagues working abroad would say, "there's no place like home" because there are many things that we can proudly say, "only in the Philippines."

War Dance

What I am going to talk about here is not the war dance of our Igorot tribes but a documentary film I recently watched, a movie about the Acholi tribes of Northern Uganda. It’s about the lives of the people in a war zone torn by unending wars between the rebels and the Government. I wanted to watch the film to learn better documentation coz it has won several awards and was even nominated for Oscar. I learned more than just documentation here.

I was supposed to title this entry “The God Forsaken Land” but I don’t believe God would abandon those people even though that’s what some people think of them. Listening to the children’s stories would make your tears fall. In this place, common people are killed by rebels for no reason at all. They would hack them mercilessly and force their families to bury them. In some cases, body parts were just scattered and families have to locate the corpses’ heads to identify their kin. Raping of women are common stories. Old enough boys are forced to join the army of rebels. For the rebels, the more children they abduct for their army, the higher their ranks will be. These children are ordered to kill or be killed. There are about 200,000 children orphaned by the war.

But despite of this cruelty the Acholi people have kept their love for music. Playing their songs and dances can make them forget even just for a while the cruelty and make them feel as if everything is just how it used to be. In 2005, in the farthest and most vulnerable government protected school in a camp in Patongo emerged a group of Acholi orphans who aspire to present their musical talents in a National Musical and Choral competition. First time to attend such a big competition, the group traveled for two days on rugged terrains under armed escorts to the capital City of Kampala. To many of them, just going to Kampala is a big enough dream. Coming from the north, they were insulted by other competitors as people from the bush, rebels and murderers. Most of the other competitors believed the first time contestants will finish last. The inferiority feelings made it hard for them to compete.

Yet where most of the news are killings and fighting, the whole City is excited to watch what these people from the north are to present. People are keen to observe every time they’re onstage. In the end, they have exceeded everyone’s and perhaps even their own expectations. They have proven that they’re more than just children of war. They are musicians. Although they don’t have the freedom and resources like everyone else, they brought home the trophy for their country’s traditional dance called Bwola. The very first time the Acholi tribe brought home such a trophy in a National competition.

This event inspired many of them that despite of growing in a cruel environment, they can still do great things. This group did not just win for Patongo, they won for the entire Acholi tribe and the people who live like they do. Like what one of the teachers in the documentary said, the war has taken their parents, brothers, sisters and relatives and left them a lot of scars. But that’s not where their story ends; they still have the chance to become the best.

This story has also won my heart. It’s more than just an excellent documentary where I learned a lot. It’s an inspiration.

If you want to help the people of Patongo or other people like them, visit http://shineglobal.org/