MALACANANG on Tuesday said it respects
the decision of the municipality of Sagada, Mountain Province to reject the
request of a delegation from Malacañang Presidential Broadcast Staff (MPBS),
including director Joyce Bernal, to shoot videos in the famous tourist spot
amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Presidential
Spokesperson Harry Roque said while the team had secured health certificates
and travel authorities, they complied with the rules of the Sagada local
government.
“Rinespeto
naman ni Joyce
Bernal at ng RTVM ang desisyon ng Sagada. Inuulit ko po, meron namang pong health
certificate at travel
authority po si Joyce
Bernal at ang mga kasama
niya pero nung hindi sila pinapasok, di naman po sila nagpumilit (Joyce
Bernal and RTVM respect the decision of Sagada. I repeat, they have health
certificates and travel authorities but when they were not allowed to enter,
they did not insist),” he said.
In a Facebook
post on Monday, the Sagada local government said the request of the RTVM was
rejected both by the Office of the Sagada Mayor and the Sagada Municipal
Disaster Risk and Management Office.
They
disclosed that Bernal’s team sent an email about the conduct of the video shoot
to the Office of the Sagada mayor “after office hours” on July 3.
It also said
Bernal and her team will be arriving in Sagada by night of July 5.
The Sagada
officials, however, only received word that Bernal’s team will be arriving on
July 5.
This prompted
the Officer in Charge and Vice Mayor Felicito Dula and the Municipal Disaster Risk and Management Officer (MDRRMO) Aida Abeya to
convene a meeting with the Local Covid-19 Task Force which ultimately decided
against the request of Bernal and her team.
“While the
meeting was ongoing, the advance party of Direk Joyce were being escorted by
our Phil. National Police to Sagada Cellar Door where they will be staying,
after the management of Sagada Heritage Village turned them down following the
local guideline that all tourism establishments continue to be suspended/closed
due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the post read.
Sagada Heritage
Village is near the famed Sumaguing Caves.
The Sagada
LGU also wrote a letter to Bernal's team, saying the strict implementation on
the entry of persons coming outside Mountain Province to Sagada has been
effective in maintaining a Covid-19-free community.
"Sagada,
being a 5th-class municipality, is not ready, specifically our health
facilities, to accommodate the presence of a Covid-19 positive case in the
locality," the letter read.
Bernal and her group are now filming the video-scenic backdrop for the
SONA in Baguio City.
Both Sagada mayors James ‘Payko’ Pooten Jr. and John
Wesley Dulawan of Ifugao said Bernal’s team was barred from filming in their
towns to protect their constituents’ health and lives.
SAgada Vice Mayor Felicito Dula in a letter to
Fern Castro, coordinator of Bernal’s team, said the health and safety of the
town’s constituents were crucial and needed to be ensured.
Escorted by police, the
team left town 10 a.m. of June 6 after spending the night at Cedar Door.
The Sagada IATF, in a letter to Bernal’s group cited Sangguniang Bayan
resolution No 110 series of 2020 governing tourism commerce and
industry in Sagada during the covid-19 pandemic.
This included closure and suspension of tourism activities such as
booking of guests by establishments, all tourist
sites and other concerns related to tourism and non-entry of
non-residents to the town coming from ‘red areas’.
Metro Manila where the team came from is a ‘red’ district area with
20,100 Covid-19 infected persons and 865 deaths as of July 5.
Local officials said the team reportedly entered to Sagada showing a
letter to local officials from Malacanang Presidential Broadcast Staff-RTVM
authorizing the travel of 14 persons to start production of video for the
SONA signed by Dennis Wilfred Pabalan, PBS-RTVM executive director.
Marina Biag former president of the Sagada Inns and Homestays
Association (SIHA) said there was an understanding among inns and homestays
that they will not reopen while the Covid-19 pandemic was a threat.
Biag said she did not know
of any inn or homestay which had a permit to operate.
The Department of Tourism in its Administrative Order
2020-002 provides, “all accommodation establishments that intend to
commence commercial operations in community quarantine zones, whether for the
accommodation of guests or operation of in-house food facilities for takeout or
delivery services, shall secure a DOT Certificate of Authority to Operate prior
to any operations.”
In said AO, “limited operations are observed under modified general
community quarantine (MGCQ) where accommodation establishments may undertake
normal operations under MGCQ and may accommodate bookings of all guests,
whether for work or leisure; provided, that operations shall be at 50%
operational capacity only.”
Sagada is now under MGCQ status and has suspended tourism activities to
include booking of guests in inns and homestays.
Cellar Door is not registered with the municipal government as a
homestay or inn.
In his reply to Facebook
when asked why Pascual was booked at Cellar Door, manager Andrew Chinalpan
said Pascual and Bernal were friends so he and his wife accommodated them to
their house.
Municipal disaster risk reduction management council officer Aida Abeya
said the LGU denied the entry of Pascual and group in an earlier verbal
communication on July 3.
Abeya said she was shocked when she learned that Pascual and four others
were already in Sagada morning of July 5 and the rest to be arriving night of the
same day which prompted the local IATF to meet and talk with Bernal.
Asked what documents the team was carrying to allow them entry to
Sagada, PNP information officer Raffy Pinayakan said a letter from
PBS-TRVM was shown them.
Sagada has no Covid case and had been following lockdown systems and
14-day quarantine protocols.
Right after leaving Sagada
on July 6, the team proceeded to Banaue, Ifugao and were met at Mt. Polis at
the boundary of Mountain Province and Ifugao.
They were denied to stay in Banaue when they
requested permission to shoot in Barangay Battad.Banaue
Mayor Dulawan said town
police escorted them out from the town up to the boundary of Mt. Amganad.
This, even if they
presented documents from Malacanang they earlier presented to Sagada officials.
According to Banaue police, the group travelled on to Baguio City after the
incident.
Ramon Cabrera, general
manager of Camp John Hay Manor in Baguio told local media the entourage of
Bernal and Pascual checked in at the hotel on Monday night around 9:30 p.m.
after going through triage process at Teachers Camp by presenting their health
clearances and Malacanang documents.
The Baguio City government
said Bernal’s team was allowed to stay in Baguio because they followed health
protocols.
The team was reportedly earlier scheduled to visit Sagada and Bontoc
towns of Mt. Province; Banaue, Ifugao; Kalinga, Abra and Baguio City
Meanwhile,
Roque said President Duterte was expected to deliver his fifth SONA by either
physically showing up at the House of Representatives Session Hall in Batasan
Pambansa, or virtually.
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