Present During the Creation

I wasn't around during the Panagbenga parade. I need to leave so we can balance out the pH of the city, meaning the Panagbenga Hysteria. Well, JPE was there. Villar's people had been calling me for a long, long time about his presscon. Hedcor also pestered me about their presscon. sec. Yap had to postpone his trip to Benguet because he needed 20 media and who in his right mind would join him? John Hay brought its own media people to hype John Hay, firstly, and the Panagbenga as a second thought. I'm glad my neighborhood school, Magsaysay Elementary School, finally won in the elementary division after having been disqualified one time. Well, the telcom war is back. But I still believe the Panagbenga four years ago was the best. Because that was when Kidlat T was at the helm and the no to telcom war was the creed. I felt the urgency for the Panagbenga then because the city was reeling over the meningo crisis. There was a need to bring people together. That was the last time Baguio residents watched (at first, they don't want to group together for fear of meningo) because now, they only watch on TV. It is the non-Baguio people who watch the show now which is good because we need visitors. Yay! Gma7 even reported about 300 tourists fighting Victory Liner in Cubao for not accomodating them on their trip to Baguio. There were cursing and shoving.
I remembered 12 years ago when Panagbenga was still starting. We were walking with Nonette and Willi when we heard the band coming. Ay, Panagbenga na pala and so we took our seat by the pavement and watched them. You can't do that now unless you are there three hours before the parade.
Then ten years ago, the hype began to start and I have to watch it at Laperal Bldg where I used to work. Now windows were booked two days before. Payment reached P100 per pane. And if it is a restaurant, P2,000 minimum per panel.