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.

It is so nice to have a friend that you can talk to about your interests, hobbies, problems, and past issues in life. This is my first vlog with my best friend Kate, I met her when I was in first year college, we have the same course which is psychology and we became best friends since then. So we chose to name this vlog as “Kate & Gigi” since this vlog is all about getting to know more with each other and also it is like a food vlog. So expect that in the video there will be a lot of laughing and also chikahan. We plan to record the video at SM City Baguio which is very accessible for us students of the University of the Cordilleras, and also we want to go and try the new branch of Zark’s Burger here in Baguio which is located at SM’s sunset terraces lower ground, and we also planned to.have our photoshoot there. So 3 plans in 1 place? Go to SM.
Back to the content of the vlog.Kate and I have a lot in common. We both love taking pictures, shopping, and exploring different kinds of food. We also love to dress up and have a photoshoot. And we love to travel to different places. So since we have known each other for a long time, the memories and experiences made our friendship stronger. So as best friends, we have our bonding time which is going to different fast foods, restaurants, milk tea shops, and try their bestselling foods. So yeah the common denominator is food, who doesn’t love food? And honestly we are addicted to milktea so if you want to pursue either one of us you need to buy milktea for the two of us, kidding aside.So back to the vlog, having this chikahan with her I realize that there’s a lot that I don’t know about Kate. We started the” getting to know more about each other” by playing rock papers, scissors. So since I am expert on that game, kidding aside, I won and I had the privilege to ask first. So it is somewhat a question and answer portion.
The first question I asked was about the first time she fell in love. I was shocked because she answered it was only last year, because I thought it was on her high school days. I had discovered that my best friend is still a sweet innocent gal who wants to be treated like Maria Clara, and she wants to be courted for a long period of time. It saddened me because the first time she fell in love she was also fell broken. Is is so hard to get up after beinh broken, been there and done that. It is full of heartaches and tears. So just to lessen the mood because i think it is still fresh to her, the memory is still hurting her. I decided to also asked about her favorite color because honestly I really don’t know what color is it until that time that I asked her. She simply said that pastel yellow is her favorite color because for her that color is very appealing to her sight. She also mentioned that there are hobbies she had back then that she doesn’t do anymore which is like getting out with her barkadas on picnic and parties, which is she often do when she was in high school, but now that hobby was removed because of college life and perks of being in the adulting stage of life which I can really relate to, because I now as a college student I prefer to stay at home and be productive in terms of academic life than going out always with my peers. But Kate and I manage to have bonding time because we often do our projects together and we review together. Pizza is her favorite food which is not so shocking to me because she usually choose pizza for her snack and she tells stories about how she eat pizzas. By thinking about that we were really compatible with each other because I love baking cakes, pizzas and pastries while on the other hand Kate loves to eat sweets and Pizza. We both love watching movies and reading books. As for me I most love writing poems especially when I am at the mood for a dramatic one. The beach is also what we both most like because of its crystal like water and magnificent view. On the last question we both ask about what are the characteristics of a man we like. So she answered that she wants to have a man who has a sweet scent that could capture her heart and a man who can really wait for her.

We have a lots In common but we also fall into arguments sometimes but since our friendship is strongly bonded we cannot be separated.
After of minutes of chikahan while eating burger and fries at Zark’s we decided to look around the mall, window shop actually. So while walking around we talked about our wants and interests in life, particularly in our future. I always was the first to ask questions because she is somewhat a shy person comapred to me. I always initiate conversations. On our interests in life, she said to me that she wants to be a Psychologist and work abroad, on the other hand I want to be a Guidance Counselor and stay here at the Philippines. We both want to help children and also the elderly that’s why we want to pursue a high paying job so that we can build a free health center, and home for the aged. It was so surprising that we have the same plans after college except the migration part that she wants, but it is so overwhelming for me knowing that we both want to extend our help and we both have a good heart for the people. Thinking about that plans that we both discuss was like a heart touching moment for me.
Getting to know more about each other is a good way to start a deeper and more bonded friendship. It is also a good way to open up, to share and to inspire. Having good friends by your side may also give you positive mood and a colorful life. True friends are hard to find, but they will try hard to stay by your side if you need help.

If you want to know more about my life and my travels please follow me on my instagram account @prncssgea and also my friend @kateamatorio

PS: Sorry for the video, it was my first time to edit one.