Sagada folk want Globe tower out from sacred site

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The rage is on for the removal of the Globe Telecom tower at Calvary hill located above the cemetery here in this culture-knit town as petitioners called on Globe, the vestry of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and authorities of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines to heed the call to take out the structure out from the sacred Hill.

Hundreds of Facebook users went viral, citing sanctity of  sacred sites and lack of free prior and  informed consent as major reasons for their demand.  

Indigenous peoples, Christians and non-Christians the area where the Globe tower is located is sacred to them as rituals are done on holy grounds at location of the Calvary Cross.

“We do not separate our reverence and respect for our ‘babawiyan’ (sacred  spots) from the Calvary Hill and the cemetery where the yearly ‘pinag-aapoy’ (lighting of candles and peat wood near the graves) is annually held eve of All Souls Day”, petitioners  pointed out.

Petitioners said the cemetery where hundreds of the departed from the indigenous community of Sagada are laid to rest are disrespected in their resting place.

“Our yearly ‘pinag-aapoy’ shows our sense of sanctity is inextricably linked to that Hill and to the cemetery where the graves and tombs of our dead are built”, Giovan Reyes, native of Sagada and chairman of the Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas, Inc. (KASAPI) said.

The public cemetery is located right below the telecom tower.This very violation of our rights to respect of our sacred spots has gone too much a desecration with the building of the telecom tower and the destruction of the very grounds of Calvary Hill with the cutting of trees to give way to the tower’s supporting framework. 

Manila-based Episcopalian and native of  Sagada, Raymond Alipit said, ”We, the church cannot just sneeze and let this just go by and let the 'Towering Inferno' aflame and bring hell over us. It has gone too far and even redesigned the natural beauty and serenity of the sacred Hill.”

Globe cut trees and built a supporting structure September this year which brought uproar from the public with pictures earlier posted on Facebook.

The uproar led the CSMV authorities to schedule a special congregational assembly Oct. 7 wherein relocation of the tower was discussed and tasked the vestry to deal with Globe on the transfer of the structure. It was not known when and where the tower shall be relocated.  

The Globe tower was erected in 2010 blessed with a tripartite agreement of the senior warden of the CSMV vestry, the bishop of the EDNP and the Globe telecom March 2010. The agreement had been recently renewed with the senior warden and the EDNP bishop this 2013, it was learned,although the agreement with church authorities had been reportedly effected before 2010.

The petition also called for the restoration of the area by dismantling all the unwanted structures placed therein and planting trees and under bushes therein.

Concerned offices of the national government were also called to do their appropriate action. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples did not issue a certificate of free prior and informed consent (FPIC), although initial field based investigation was done in 2010 with the recommendations that all those affected shall be consulted. The process stopped there with calls for consultation from affected people and stakeholders then and up to now.