The local government of Baguio City said it pushed back the Panagbenga Festival by a month as a precaution against COVID-19.
The city hosts the month-long flower festival every February, where thousands of tourists flock to celebrate and join in the festivities. The Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. which organizes the annual event agreed to postpone the festival to March, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said.
"While we agreed on the limited and scaled down events that we are supposed to conduct for this year's flower festival, we eventually decided to put on hold these events until such time that the vaccine to be procured by the local government will be rolled out to ensure the health and safety of the public," Magalong said.
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Festivals and religious celebrations in the Philippines have been scaled down considerably to make room for minimum health standards.
Earlier in January, the procession during the Feast of the Black Nazarene was cancelled for the first time ever to prevent a possible spike in infections. Just last weekend, those in charge of the Feast of Sto. Niño in Manila encouraged devotees to stay home, while those looking to celebrate in Cebu had to skip the usual festivities in favor of safety protocols.
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