Tiff hounds P100 million Sagada tourism project

By Gina Dizon

BAGUIO CITY -- The suspension order of Department of  Public Works and Highways  Secretary Rogelio Singson  on the controversial bidding of the  P100 million upgrading of the Sabangan-Sagada road in Mountain Province stands with the Secretary to resolve  where the road shall pass-whether through the Madepdeppas-Taccong or Suyo-Balili road.

Sagada vice Mayor Richard Yodong in a press conference here at Luisa’s’ Café Friday bared this urging Mountain Province Rep. Maximo  Dalog and Sagada mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr.“to stop interfering in other people’s initiatives.”  

Yodong  said Singson’s order of suspension was derailed by a letter of  Department of Tourism regional  director Purificacion Molintas  to DPWH regional  director  Edilberto Carabaccan  stating her opinion that the  Balili- Suyo  connecting the Dantay-Sagada   road be subjected to  the  tourism road infrastructure project prioritization criteria (TRIPPC)  and  immediate preparation of the plans for said road be done.

In effect, the opinion of Molintas reportedly sent in a December 2012 letter to DPWH Undersecretary for regional operations Romeo Momo  favored the Sabangan-Sagada road via Madepdeppas route and not the Balili-Suyo route.

The Madepdeppas route is being contested by Yodong and the Sangguniang Bayan being against their 2011 resolution requesting Singson for an extension of the Dantay-Sagada road with a proposed road beginning at the SumaguingCave exiting towards the Suyo-Balili Road and joining the national Bontoc-Baguio road.

The proposed upgrading of the road was projected to highlight southern tourist attractions as the   Balangagan cave and Pongas Falls in southern Sagada.     

The Madepdeppas road starts from the provincial Sabangan junction then ascends to Medepdepas to the Bangnin junction ending above barangay Taccong, Sagada passing through a single lane concrete pavement and a gravel and dirt road. Between barangay Suyo and Taccong, Sagada is the Inakang River demanding the building of a bridge to reach Suyo, Sagada.

The Madepdeppas  road project was questionable as there was no prior  request from  the   local  government unit of Sabangan for its construction, Yodong  said.  

He said it was obvious the road project was whimsically and arbitrarily extracted from the originally proposed extension of the Dantay-Sagada road project named Sabangan-Sagada road after Molintas inspected said proposed road line in February 2012.

Dalog and  Latawan  earlier wrote  Singson to conduct a dialogue among persons concerned  including the  DOT on the controversial Sabangan-Sagada road project.

It was noted that a petition earlier forwarded to Molintas reportedly facilitated by staff from the office of Latawan  has been forwarded to barangay chairmen of  Sagada for their signatures favoring  the Madepdeppas route.

It was noted also that Dalog  earlier forwarded  a letter to Carabaccan impliedly  favoring the Madepdeppas route with his opposition to the  Balili route  stating that the ‘Sagada-Suyo-Balili  route is entirely different from what is known as the  Sabangan-Sagada road’ further stating that the  route shall open new avenues to other tourist destinations as Mount Polis  in Bauko.  

There are four ways to reach Sagada via Sabangan, through the existing Balili-Suyo road and long and winding Sabangan-Tadian-Besao-Sagada route and the non-existing Madepdeppas-Sagada route and via Bangnin, Bauko.

Yodong  urged Singson and  DOT  Secretary  Ramon  Jimenez  to conduct personal inspection to note existing and non-existing road lines that can reach  Sagada from Sabangan in accordance  with the DOT-DPWH convergence program to enhance tourism based on  the TRIPPC .

Molintas cited in her letter to Carabaccan that the Sabangan-Sagada road has passed the TRIPPC likewise validated by the composite team from National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), DOT and the DPWH November 21 last year.

The validation team strongly recommended  that the Sabangan-Sagada road should start construction from the end of the national road at the Sumaguing Cave section in Sagada to serve as primary access to the Balangagan Marcos Cave at Barangay Taccong and other tourist spots in Barangay Suyo, Sagada.

Inspection of the P100 million controversial Sabangan-Sagada road project via  Balili would open tourism activities like alternative caving, mountain biking, trekking, bird watching, star-gazing and cloud catching. It was noted by the validation team that the Madepdeppas route does not have any tourist attraction, SB members said.

Funding of the Balili-Suyo road is not “financially secure.”Molintas in her letter to Carabaccan said the road rehabilitation be  funded from savings in 2012 and 2013, under the priority development assistance funds of  Rep. Dalog for 2013  and prioritized under the new spending program for  2014.