PANAGBENGA 2014

 "Panagbenga" is a native word which means "blooming" of flowers. This flower festival is celebrated every month of February in Baguio City, Philippines and a lot of activities are lined up during this month. Many local and foreign tourist are flocking in the city especially during the last Sunday of the month because of the Street Dancing showdown, Float Parade and Session in Bloom.

Panagbenga may just be one of the biggest festivals in the Philippines because of its fantastic flower-built floats parading in Baguio City's main thoroughfares yearly.

The theme of this years Floats varies from zombies to Minions to local celebrities to culture. The Panagbenga 2014 was concluded on March 02, 2014.  The three top winners are as follows:

1st Place: International Pharmaceuticals Inc. (P200,000.00). Their float featured an Egyptian motif with a Sto Nino statue.
2nd Place: Department of Agriculture, Cordillera Region (P175,000.00). Their float was a veritable forest of flowers under a shade of fairies
3rd Place: Manila North Luzon Tollways Corp. (P150,000.00). Their float is related to the 2014 Panagbenga theme, their theme was Plants vs Pollution. The mascots and girls were dressed in plants and the boys in zombie attire performed acrobatic tricks.

The gemologists from the Guiness Book of World Records will be coming here in the Philippines on December 19 to formally inspect the "Pearl of the Kings" It is said to the largest pearl in the world. This pearl is owned by a Chinese-Filipino resort owner.

According to news, the Pearl of Kings came from a giant clam which produces the so-called tridacna pearl and it has an initial measurement of around 9 kilos.

They are hoping that they will bypass the current Guiness record holder which is the 6-kilos "Pearl of Allah" currently in the United States.