Sagada folks petition MP rep, bishop: No to road project

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- With the proposal of church authorities to open a diversion road within the Anglican Mission Compound, nearly 500 Sagada natives here and overseas asked Rep. Maximo Dalog to withdraw his endorsement on proposed diversion road to the Regional Development Council and instead facilitate funding for parking space instead in this heavily-visited tourist town.

In a petition floated online and in town, petitioning parishioners of the Church of St Mary the Virgin and residents of Sagada also asked Bishop Brent  Alawas of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNP) to cancel the permit to enter issued by the  Bishop and for the standing committee to equally cancel their  endorsement to said proposed diversion road.

Proposed road runs from the main road to the borders of sitios Deccan, Sayoksok on to join the 13 km Dantay-Sagada road  at the Daoangan section dubbed Dantay-Sagada Diversion Road.  

The proposed opening of the diversion road stirred anew earlier opposition due strong threats of a destroyed eco-park  within the Mission Compound, anticipated  waste disposal, squatting due commercial opportunities and destruction of a heritage site established a hundred years ago.

The Mission Compound was established by American missionaries in the early 1900s with the building of the church- Church of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV), St Theodore’s Hospital and St Mary’s School. Ownership of the  32 hectare Mission Compound is registered in the name of   the Episcopal Church in the Philippines-Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines.

A permit to enter was issued by  Bishop Brent Alawas and witnessed by Barangay PatayPunong Barangay Dennis Lopez, Rev. Archie Turtem chairman of the Standing Committee, Secretary to the Standing Committee Rev Ezra Calitong, and Penelope Claver , special Agent to the Department of Public Works and Highways to enter, conduct and undertake, survey and occupy   and do other construction activities in connection to the building of proposed diversion road.    

Proposed diversion road refers to the same contested road proposed in 2014 which supposedly should have been funded by the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP) in the amount of P1.9 million pesos and supposedly to be implemented by the Local Government Unit of Sagada but was opposed by the congregation of the Church of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV) and the public as noted in a congregational assembly, public consultation and a signature campaign.

The CSMV vestry in 2014 noting the bid out diversion road project in 2014 without an agreement  inked between the church and the supposed implementing local government unit of Sagada voted no for the construction of said diversion road following consultation with strong voices of opposition.  

The current CSMV vestry headed by senior warden Dave Gulian intends to conduct a workshop relevant to the issue and consider what the congregation says.

Other  suggestions floated was improvement of the existing road starting from the frontage of  the Sagada Multipurpose Coop and building of parking spaces at ken Gedeng, Boy’s Dorm and Tangeb.  

Others are saying yes to the proposed diversion road.

Standing committee member Nellie Pit-og said the project intends to resolve traffic congestion along the main road of the town especially during influx of tourists, though she said she was referring to the existing road within the Mission Compound.

It was observed that designation of parking lots answered the problem of traffic congestion during the 2014 and 2015 Holy Week and the long weekend from April 9 to 12, 2015   with the identification of parking lots where cars of tourists and residents were directed to let the main road a no-parking site; and further improvement of traffic systems including loading and unloading time provided for, putting up of road signs, and deployment of traffic aides.