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.

As 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."

New DOT slogan trigger debates

THE new Department of Tourism (DOT) slogan: “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” triggered another barrage of negative comments and debates on online social sites like Facebook.

The new slogan was released at 10 am Friday and threads about it are starting to spread. A similar reaction was received after the launching of “Pilipinas kay ganda” in 2010 under then Tourism Sec. Albert Lim with the controversial logo similar to Poland’s.

The campaign’s new website, http://itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/, also contains the new logo. The logo is an abstract design and some suggested it has no Philippine trademark and looks more like the “tetris” brick game. Maraya Brien commented it looks like a “banig” or floor mat.

Stephanie MeiGaw also mentioned Taiwan used a similar phrase. Fun Taiwan Challenge is a reality TV show where contestants go around Taiwan to compete for NT$1 million grand prize.

In a thread in Yahoo Answers, which started after the blunder of the Pilipinas kay ganda slogan, many suggested to retain “Wow Philippines” as the country’s tourism catch phrase. It was launched by Dick Gordon and was considered by many to be the best promotion slogan yet.

In Chris Linag’s thread about the new slogan, Bob Guerrero said he was told, “Wow Philippines did not translate very well in some countries, like Germany. They literally did not understand it.”

In response, Raul Echivarre reasoned, “If you do an 80-20 study on tourism dollars going to our country, I highly doubt that the countries who do not understand ‘Wow’ represent the majority. Besides, if you build on the brand long term, the minority who don’t get it eventually will.”

Another comment in a different thread said “Wow” is a universal language, which everyone understands.

Veteran tour guide Carlos Celdran expressed his dislike for the old slogan and encouraged the promotion of the new one. On the same thread, one criticized “Wow Philippines” as pretentious.

Debates are still ongoing but the bottom line to a certain blogger is to surpass the “Wow Philippines” campaign under Gordon, which was able to keep the country’s tourism industry afloat. One of the greatest achievements was when "More Than The Usual, WOW Philippines" advertisement campaign won the Best International Video Advertising award at the Internationale Tourismus Borse (ITB) in Berlin.

Fretting Over the New Tourism Slogan

What would come to the mind of someone foreign to our language when you say "Pilipinas Kay Ganda"? What would you think if someone told you "Decorus Italy?" Nothing would come to your mind but confusion. But if you say "Wow Philippines" it automatically create something of beauty in the mind.

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim cited “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” as reflective of the optimism being represented by the new administration. “The new Philippine brand will be the centerpiece of our tourism promotional programs and advertising campaigns in the years to come. It is in keeping up with the President’s philosophy of public-private partnership” and "it is reflective of the optimism being represented by the new administration," said Lim.

He said that "although the brand had elicited mixed reactions because of its radical departure from what is currently done by neighboring countries; it is relevant, distinctive, and believable." But did he ponder why the neighboring countries used beautiful brand such as Malaysia. Truly Asia, Incredible India, Amazing Thailand, Uniquely Singapore? They were products of research that should attract the mind of a foreigner to automatically create hunger of what the place has to offer.

Lim is hopeful that by using the vernacular language for the tagline, every domestic and foreign tourist will tend to mouth the phrase in same way Hawaii has successfully popularized the expression “Aloha” in a global scale. He said that “the real challenge is how to make the Philippines attain a competitive identity that differentiates it from what our neighbors are claiming to be. We need to be more daring in expressing our brand, if we are to rise above the clutter."

So what is Lim trying to popularize there? "Kay Ganda?" The Philippine Airlines is already ahead of Lim with their in-flight magazine "Mabuhay".

I believe the neighboring countries are way ahead of us in their tourism promotion. With our new slogan, I believe the only people we can attract to come home are our "kababayan."

If we want to create craving in the minds of foreign people, we should use the universal language that is understood by the very people we want to attract. And of course should rhyme with the name of our country.

I would prefer "Pristine Philippines" because it will not only create a craving for a beautiful and quite place, it will also contest the notion planted in the foreigners' minds that Philippines is not a safe place for tourists.

Or we can just retain Wow Philippines, or perhaps we should change our Tourism secretary.

Automated Election, Not Automatic

Technicians who don't know what they are doing, limited modems, modems that can't transmit, insufficient thermal paper, irregularities in transporting the machines. These things actually happened in so-called Summer Capital of the Philippines during the May 10, 2010 election.

I thought it was only one technician who doesn't know what he's doing.Reports are coming in that a lot of the IT technicians are not really prepared for worst case scenarios. The technician I saw spent most of his time reading the manual to correct a problem of jamming. In the end, the only solution was to transmit the results first before they can continue to print the turn outs. However there is only one modem in each cluster of precinct so they will have to wait for the others to finish transmitting.

So we waited.... and waited.... and waited... coz the other machine just experienced the same problem and they will have to finish transmitting first before the modem can be taken to the other side. So the lone technician went back to reading the manual instead of going to the other side to help them out finish the transmission and get the modem when it's done. They were done already for like 30 minutes or so. But the technician is not coming to get the modem. I asked one of the teachers if she is allowed to bring it over. It is and she brought it over to the other side.

After about an hour or so, the technician went back to our side and asked us if we can open the machine and put the cf card there coz the other machine can't transmit. Everyone of the watchers refused so he went back again to the other side. It turned out, it was the simm that can't transmit coz it was successful when he changed it into a different network.

While these are happening, the thermal papers run out and they have to order more from comelec. It made me wonder that if COMELEC was really prepared, should they have been able to compute the amount of papers needed to print the 30 sets of election returns? Some precincts were still working until 3 in the morning because of similar problems. The automation is not really automatic.

When the counting is done, the CF cards should have been transported separately with the machine and should have been accompanied by the watchers. Some of the machines were transported with the CF cards intact in a car-for-rent of a politician and no watchers were allowed to go with it. Transportation provided by COMELEC is not even enough. It seems they are not as prepared as they claimed.

So why did they insist for Automated election when it's obvious that they were not prepared? But maybe this ought to happen so that we will learn to change. Perhaps today is not the change we are looking for but just a preparation so that we can be ready when the real change comes.