Sagada folks hit building project above burial cave

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province – Local folks here assailed construction of a multi-purpose building above Balangangan burial cave, asking why the project was constructed in Barangay Taccong.

Residents of the barangay said no billboard was put in the area on the building of the P40 million project at the southern remote barangay of this tourist town.

There was reportedly no environmental compliance certificate (ECC) or free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the people before construction began. 

A petition was forwarded by residents and officials of Taccong opposing  any construction near the Balangagan cave saying it endangers the safety and integrity of the burial cave.

               The building was programmed as a cultural and sports  tourism center.

Taccong barangay captain Domingo Besoy said blasting and excavation of the surface above Balangagan burial cave resulted to seepage of materials from the surface discoloring some the cave underneath.

Balangagan cave is one of tourist attractions of Sagada.

A recent meeting here facilitated by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples as requested by the officials and residents of Taccong told the Mountain Province District Engineering Office of the Department of Public works and Highways to suspend construction of the ongoing project.

Now in its ground preparations, the building is a seven-month project designed to be finished by March 2019 unless extended due to reasonable circumstances.

With the completion of the P40 million multipurpose building, phase 2 costing P15 million is composed of parking spaces and finishing including bleachers.

 Awarding of phase 2 of the project is set January next year  

Current implementation of the P40-million project does not have prior requirements namely conduct of FPIC and ECC including building permit.

In said meeting, Architect Felix Kepes of the MPDEO asked the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources to forward a letter asking for the conduct of an ECC to let MPDEO suspend project construction.

              Kepes said they (MPDEO)  did not know a cave was below the project site.  

The FPIC process shall be scheduled upon submission of requirements including the ECC to NCIP, legal counsel to NCIP Atanacio Addog said.  Addog said the people of the affected ancestral domain shall have the final say whether they are in favor of the project or not regardless of the results of the ECC.

In their petition forwarded to the DENR, second week of November, residents and officials of Taccong asked regional director Fay Apil of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to conduct a geologic study on the destruction of the surface above Balangagan Cave and damages inside the cave.

A geological study is yet to be conducted by MGB-DENR due to other activities that the department is doing it was learned. An earlier inspection by DENR in October noted limestone defacements.

Taccong kagawad Matthias Dacmeg said the people are alarmed that construction being done by lot owner Henry ‘Dapusan’ Bastian is turning to be a structure of such magnitude with the blasting of the surface endangering the cave below it prompting petitioners to forward their complaint to DENR and NCIP.

People of Taccong consider Balangagan burial cave as their communal property preserved through the years, so they consider it their obligation to protect the site.    

Besoy in an interview said the project better be relocated.  

A one-story multipurpose project measuring 40 meters by 40 meters and nine meters in height was awarded to Dacoscos Construction following a bidding conducted by MPDEO in March  2018.

A project under the Local infrastructure Project of the regular funds of DPWH, the project was an initiative of then Mountain Province congressman Maximo Dalog who proposed said project in Congress in 2017 and eventually approved for 2018 funding.

Said initiative stemmed from a proposal of the Association of Southern Sagada Environmental Tourist Guides (ASSET-G) asking Dalog for the allocation of funds for the construction of a cultural , sports and tourism center at Balangagan, Taccong in March 2017.

The lot on which the project is constructed on is owned by barangay Ankileng resident Henry Bastian who is also the president of ASSET-G.   Bastian sold a portion of his claimed property to the municipality of Sagada.

Kepes suggested in an interview that a place within Sagada be identified should there be relocation forwarded by the affected people when the FPIC is conducted

Meantime, a boundary dispute between adjacent barangay Suyo versus Taccong compounded issues on cave destruction and location of project site.