Panagbenga 2021 Activities POSTPONED

The Public Information Office of Baguio City has announced on Saturday that the activities for the Panagbenga 2021 Flower Festival will be postponed to a further date.

The announcement came after the conduct of a scaled down Panagbenga Festival 2021 has been initially approved by the City Government and the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI) on January 3 to boost tourism despite the pandemic.

The consensus was reached on Friday, January 15, 2021, during a meeting between the city and festival stakeholders as a precautionary measure against the B.1.1.7. SARS-CoV-2 variant (UK variant) which has been detected in the country. The new variant of the coronavirus was reported to be more infectious variant, according to the Department of Health.

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According to Mayor Benjamin Magalong, the City Government and the BFFFI have decided to put on hold the festival events, which will supposedly be held from February 1, 2021 to March 7, 2021, until such time that the vaccine to be procured will be rolled out to ensure the health and safety of the public. When the vaccine will arrive and be rolled out to the city’s constituents have not been disclosed in the announcement.

On January 11, the City of Baguio has signed a deal with British-Swedish pharma AstraZeneca to procure 190,000 doses that aims to cover 70% of the city’s population. A total of 33,000 commitments from private companies has also been received by the city.

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SOURCES: PIO-Baguio