Baguio: The executive committee (execom) of the Baguio Flower Festival (BFF) on Monday reiterated its policy against political campaigning ahead of this year’s midterm polls. ‘We will not allow campaigning. Nobody will take advantage of the festival and we have a policy on that,’ said BFF execom chair Anthony de Leon, on the sidelines of the launch of the 29th Baguio Flower Festival or ‘Panagbenga’.

According to Philippines News Agency, De Leon stated that politicians may join the parade but the floats cannot carry political banners and hand-outs, and they cannot go down the floats to shake hands with the public. ‘They (need to) follow our rules or they don’t join, or their float will not be allowed to parade. We have done that before and we will do it again if only to ensure the orderliness of the parade,’ he said.

De Leon mentioned they are expecting at least 36 small, medium, and large competing floats aside from the non-competing floats to join the parade. The annual Panagbenga (time for blossoming/blooming) has become a major crowd-drawing event, especially the grand parade set for February 22-23 this year.

The month-long celebration, which starts February 1, attracts thousands of local and international tourists.