Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the Panagbenga Festival to be held in the city will return on “full blast in February 2023.”
“This is the festival where we will go full blast. What we were doing pre-pandemic, all the features there will be included but we will also add more,” Magalong, quoted by a GMA News report, said.
Magalong said there will be performances and concerts from Filipino folk singer and composer Noel Cabangon and other local singers.
“We will add more, maybe, an additional three or four events to complete the events here for the entire month of February. At the same time, we will coordinate with the PNP and our health and emergency service so we can be sure that the celebration will be safe, secured, and orderly,” the official said.
Magalong also said that more tourists are expected to watch the festival and that to address possible traffic problems, he said the local government created new routes for vehicles, GMA News further reported.
Magalong further said tourists can both “help or cause problems in the city,” saying that Magalong said that it is “both… because we experience problems with traffic but at the same time it is a big help to our economy because our businessmen, our vendors, and our markets are benefiting from it. It makes a big difference.”
Magalong said traffic congestions also cause irritability among the local population.
“But we are a victim of our own successes. Every time we create a better Baguio, we make Baguio beautiful and clean. You cannot stop tourists from visiting,” he said.
Magalong also said the Philippine National Police (PNP have been notified about the identity of rental house scammers based on their postings on Facebook.
“There are many scammers but we continue to notify the public, and we continue to give advisories that they should carefully look at Facebook posts,” he said.