Baguio City the summer capital of the Philippines, the home of strawberry taho and is also famous for its Panagbenga festivities. The celebration of the Panagbenga was always held every 2nd month of the year, the month of love. It is a 1 month full of activities, where in tourists form various places enjoy the cool weather while watching extravagant activities around the city like the grand parade, the session in bloom, dancing parade, and many more. One thing why tourists love to travel here in Baguio is to see and to discover different beautiful tourist spots with the cozy weather and hot chocolate or coffee.
As for us students, Panagbenga festivities gives us a rough time because of the heavy traffic caused by the activities and due to the closing of the session road. It was very hectic for us because we spend a lot of time travelling and also for the pollution it causes in the environment which makes us feel sick and irritated. Baguio today is much polluted, we lost the fresh breeze of pine tree scent, the very green environment. Even if it is not peak season here in Baguio, still lots and lots of tourist from different parts of the world come and have a cozy vacation.
So there’s the news that, Baguio moves Panagbenga festivities to March because of the New Corona Virus (NCoV) that is now a worldwide threat. At first I was really disappointed because I was expecting to have 2-3 day vacation because of the Panagbenga. I was expecting of cancellation of classes. But upon hearing the news that the Corona virus is now spreading in the country I was alarmed and I actually had a panic attack. I ran immediately out of my boarding house to buy vitamins, medicines, face mask, and alcohol. I was really scared of the virus because I easily get sick and have a low immune system. I immediately searched the internet on how to protect myself from the virus. Based on the article I have read about the virus, we should maintain proper hygiene, which includes washing hands regularly and eating nutritious foods. In addition to that, just to share some information, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the official name of the new corona Virus is COVID-19, which means “CO” as Corona, “VI” as Virus, “D” as Disease, and 19 because this virus was already affecting people in china since the end of the year 2019. This new deadly virus from Wuhan, China is now rapidly spreading all around the world. The virus already killed thousands of people and affected many people around 25 countries even if it is low in fatality rate. Scientists from the different parts of the world were busy making the cure of the said virus, doctors and nurses of the hospitals were alarmed due to the outbreak. As for now the Corona Virus or COVID-19 is very rampant news in social media, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Filipinos were really alarmed and that caused a panic attack nationwide ever since that the DOH confirmed the first case of COVID-19.
So for me Baguio should cancel, not move Panagbenga Festivities because as we all know that hospitals here in the Philippines were literally not ready for the COVID-19 outbreak. The facilities actually is not ready to treat many patients if ever many would be affected by the virus. Comparing our facilities to other country like China, Japan, Singapore USA, the truth is they have various kinds of facilities that could help them treat the virus, as for us we don’t have those and we still need the help of other countries just to fight the virus.
Since the virus is airborne it could be easier for the virus to spread out, and because of its high mobility rate. And because of this news the stock of disposable masks in markets here in Baguio and maybe in the entire country ran out. Many Filipinos didn’t have the chance to have disposable face masks due to the lack of stock and because of the rise of prizes of masks in the market. Panagbenga will attract many tourist and what will be the consequence of that? Of course the easily spread of virus, if ever one or some of the tourist is affected by the virus. The deadly virus will cause many sufferings of Filipinos.
The government should secure the lives of many Filipino people, the ban or cancelation of festivities like Panagbenga would be a great help in preventing the virus to spread and much great help to save and secure the lives of Filipino people. Even China, their government canceled its nationwide festival, the Chinese New Year just to control the spread of the virus in their country. Why Philippines, the government is what I’m pertaining to, is very blind eyed and not seeing the consequences of their actions. We can cancel the Panagbenga if the government wanted to right? It’s not a lost since the health of many people is in stake. If ever the virus will affect many people here in the Ph there would be a greater risk of economic deflation. In addition to that the government should think first of the consequences not the budget it costs, not the money involved and not just what they will gain upon insisting this festival to happen.
It’s good to have Panagbenga activities but we should also think for ourselves and what is good for the entire population. Like many people say “Prevention is better than cure”.
Panagbenga is embedded in our culture, but we can celebrate the festival even if there’s no activities and parades. It’s not a loss because we can celebrate it in the next years. We could still feel the essence of Panagbenga with our hearts.
Anyway for the information of everyone, this is just my comment or opinion about the news, issue that is happening right now. And I want to voice out my opinion to the public to give them insights about what will happen or what are the consequences of insisting the Panagbenga for us students, and for everyone who is staying here in Baguio City.
Jiya's words 