The picturesque minucipality of Sagada in Mountain Province recently gained even more fame as the setting of the movie, That Thing Called Tadhana.
But while the movie may have ended on a hopeful note, the folks at Sagada are dealing with an ugly reality. It’s a hot issue that involves government officials and government agencies that seems to be threatening to cause disruption in the area.
A road-widening projetc of the Department of Public Works (DPWH) and Department of Tourism (DOT) designed to ease traffic to and from Sagada in Mountain Province is threatening the integrity of an ancient mummy burial cave in the area.
“Presidential Decree 260 in 1973 declared as National Treasure (today’s National Cultural Treasure) the ‘Mummy Burial Caves in Sagada and in Barangay Alab in Bontoc, also in Mountain Province.’ The declaration likewise covers the burial caves of Kabayan, Benguet,” recalled Edgar Allan M. Sembrano in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The ancient burial coffins may be spared from the actual road-widening, but residents and heritage experts say that the project will encroach on at least a meter of the cave’s rim. They also fear that the construction work could damage the integrity of the ancient cave and undermine it.”
Moreover, residents claimed that the the project had been awarded to E.T. Latawan Construction, a company owned by the outgoing mayor of Sagada, Engineer Eduardo T. Latawan.
The report noted: “Latawan, according to the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) Philippines, has not heeded the appeals of Icomos and other heritage groups for the town to come up with an Infrastructure Guidelines (IG) and a Tourism Management Plan (TMP) to regulate tourism and construction activities so as to conserve Sagada’s natural and cultural heritage sites.”
The report added that “the DPWH and DOT appear blase or entirely ignorant that the burial caves are supposed to enjoy protection and conservation from the national government.”
So, what gives?
