Hot air balloon fest set next month

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines   â€“ This year’s International Hot Air Balloon Festival will be staged at a new venue – a resort in Barangay Prado Singco in Lubao – next month, organizers said yesterday.

Pilipinas International Balloon Festival Inc. (PHABFI) chair Noel Castro said the festival in Lubao will have 35 hot air balloons, some featuring characters from the Angry Bird computer game and the Lion King movie as well as a three-faced monkey and a motorcycle.

Castro said it is more feasible to fly hot air balloons in April since weather conditions are more favorable, unlike in February when rains sometimes hamper the event.

He said his group decided to take over the festival after Joy Roa, chair of the rival Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Foundation Inc., announced that his group would not be staging the event for this year.

Castro said the event is not just an annual occasion, but a tradition embedded in the culture of Pampanga.

He said he met with regional tourism director Ronnie Tiotuico and started planning to hold the event in another location, away from the Clark International Airport.

“We decided to transfer the venue to Lubao in view of the air traffic situation at the Clark airport,” said Castro.

For his part, Tiotuico said 30 participants from 10 countries will join the event in Lubao. He said activities for the event were initially limited to hot air balloon and kite flying, but they added wakeboarding as the resort has a wakeboarding facility.

He expressed confidence the festival will be successful, noting the partnership between the Pampanga provincial government and the Department of Tourism. 

Meanwhile, the Clark Development Corp. confirmed that negotiations are ongoing for the staging of two hot air balloon festivals in Clark next year.

Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano said he will endorse the restaging of the hot air balloon festival in Clark next year, contrary to his earlier pronouncement that the project was not in line with the priorities of CIAC.