Mt Prov, Kalinga mayors clash on highway closure

Ban on tourists passing road hit 

 TINGLAYAN, Kalinga —  The mayors of this town and Sadanga, Mountain Province are now at odds over a road closed by the latter.

Tinglayan mayor Sacramento Gumilab urged the Mountain Province government to review the executive order of Sadanga mayor Gabino Ganggangan banning tourists bound for Tinglayan from passing through Sadanga.

Gumilab, in his letter to Mountain Province Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr., said, the executive order of Ganggangan should be declared null and void as it is inconsistent with the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the laws of the country.

To this, Ganggangan told the Northern Philippine Times Thursday in Baguio City concerned officials can file a case about the matter. “Let the courts decide,” he said, adding he acted in good faith.

“It is only tourists (outside Mountain Province) who are banned from passing the Kalinga-Bontoc Road at the Sadanga area,” he said.

Sources said the disputed highway is a national road under the Dept. of Public Works and Highways.

On July 28, 2020, Ganggangan penned EO 18 series of 2020 prohibiting tourists going to Barangay Buscalan in Tinglayan, Kalinga from passing through the road within Sadanga.

Ganggangan said issued the EO to stop transport of marijuana, firearms and ammunitions, attributing such crimes being committed by persons posing as tourists. 

Under the EO, tourists bound for Buscalan “are hereby prohibited to take the route covering the road sections within Sadanga's area of coverage.”  

The order also states that tourists trying to pass through the territorial jurisdiction of Sadanga to or from Buscalan, Tinglayan shall be denied entry and will be sent back to where he or she came from.

Though Gumilab acknowledged the noble cause of the order of Ganggangan, “banning tourists to Tinglayan does not prevent the commissions of such crimes because any other person without being a tourist can commit them.”

The Kalinga town mayor said Ganggangan's EO is an impairment of the constitutional right to travel.

Gumilab said the right to travel is part of the 'liberty' of which a citizen cannot be deprived without the due process of law.  

He also said under the Constitution, “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law nor shall any person be deprived the equal protection of the law”.  

He added the Sadanga mayor has no authority to prohibit the use of national roads and that barring access to the road through Sadanga would mean longer trips for tourists.

The Tinglayan-Sadanga-Bontoc highways is a national road.

"It must be noted that the only direct entry point to Tinglayan from Mountain Province is the Bontoc-Tabuk National which will pass thru Sadanga. By the issuance of the EO, tourists would be forced to take a route 10 times longer in order to reach Tinglayan via Tabuk City, Kalinga," he said.

He said, tourists, especially those who have no private vehicles, will have to spend more time and money to get to Tinglayan.

Gumilab added while a few have been arrested for carrying marijuana, "such events are fallacious basis to support a conclusion that tourists visiting Tinglayan especially Buscalan have an ominous purpose for marijuana."