Taking a jab once more in Sagada’s tourism

HAPPY WEEKEND

Pinumdeng  Cloudline in between Data Sabangan and Taccong Sagada 

Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- It was  yearend in 2019  before the pandemic in 2020 when there were  nearly 200,000  tourists who entered Sagada. That’s far from a very few in the early 1970s and only a very few homestays like St. Joseph Rest House, Green House, Sagada Guest House and Grandma’s Inn.  
    Tourists then were backpackers from the US and Europe particularly Switzerland and Germany with droves of visitors from Israel who mostly came in groups.    
    Add to that artists and playwrights from Manila who stayed here for weeks or so and came back including foreigners who enjoyed staying in town. Tourists then enjoyed jamming with locals over a bottle of gin and guitar and everybody happy.
    That until domestic tourists surpassed foreigners in the ‘90s’ mass tourism and the beginning of vans of tourists beckoned by tour agencies from Manila and elsewhere gradually led to the increase of tourist arrivals.
Domestic visitors with 85% from the lowlands and the rest of the 15% foreigners frequented Sagada for quite some time since the 1990s which peaked up in the years of 2000. That ratio stayed till now.
    Most of the 85% from Manila and other parts of the country came in vans while some by bus and private cars.     Most stayed for only two nights and left on the third day and this year for only a night and leave the next day.
    Since tourism was again opened December last year after two years of Covid pandemic, tourists are slowly peaking up with some 1,600 arrivals the past weekend of November 25-27.
    Long weekends during non-working holidays signal the coming of more tourists from usual days.   
    Since December last year registered some 40,000 tourist arrivals till now. Add to that some 6,000 arrivals projected for the holiday season this December and Sagada shall have nearly 50,000 arrivals for 2022.
    Yet, that’s a far cry from arrivals of 180,000 in 2019. What system there was then in 2019 and before 2019 must have been good that some if not most tourism stakeholders wish the system before shall be the system now.
    Sagada has to do more than just staying comfortable with a 50,000 figure as the year comes to a close. What with accommodations numbering some 150 homestays and inns, some 15 cafes and restos in town and some 30 souvenir shops. Add to that nearly a thousand tourist guides and nearly a hundred shuttles means the more tourists there are, more residents benefit from tourism.
    Much as a number of residents then gained from the benefits of tourism in the 1990s and on before the pandemic. People were able to build houses with aid from loans, buy cars, dine in restos, pay loans and go on vacation while some bought expensive things from the gains of tourism.
    Tourism then before the pandemic was an exercise of collective benefits. Though some may frown on mass tourism and attribute it to destruction of nature and culture evident with rugged commercialization.
    Mass tourism as community-based is when people benefit from it. But it is a
challenge not to abuse the gains of  tourism.
    For now however, there’s just a few tourists. Only a few inns, shuttles and guides are benefitting from tourism.  
    Add to that some reported shuttle owners who ferry all their visitors group by group to disadvantage of other shuttle owners who wait in line for their turn. 
    Insensitive muscleing of tourism gains to one’s own advantage reflect weak tourism management not reflective of a town known for its collective cultural norms of that frowns at dislocating and doing harm to others.
 ‘Socialized tourism’
The gains of tourism is shared by nearly a thousand tourist guides  from the 19 barangays with five tourist organizations. This including  Sagada Environmental Guides Association (SEGA), Sagada Genuine Guides Association (SAGGAS) and Sagada Ethnos Tourist Guides Organization (SETGO) from the central part of town;Bangaan Fidelisan Tanulong Madongo  Pide Guides Association( BFTAMPGA)from the northern zone;  Association of Southern Environment Guides (ASSET) from the southern cluster and Kiltepan Guides Association (KIGA) from the eastern front of town.
    Some guides complain they have to wait for hours and still not able to guide even in a day following the “pila” system.
    This has led to calls to decentralize the registration system at the tourist information center to open tourist hubs at the northern and southern zones to enable registration of tourists aside from the central part of town.
    Accommodations too with some 150 of them, are organized like Sagada Inns and Homestays Association (SIHA) who address their respective concerns that all should benefit from the gains of tourism. 
    Add to that issues faced by shuttle owners belonging to Sagada Association of Tourist Shuttles (SATS). Some shuttles reportedly corner their visitors in ferrying them to sites and not following the “pila.”
    It remains a challenge for Sagada to implement its walk town policy too. Visitors  ride on shuttles with rides provided by Sagada itself. Those who ride most of the time would of course miss souvenir shops and restos and cafes found along the road and ignoring the walk town policy of the town.
Opening other sites
“Are there other sites we can see, a tourist asked a resident. “You should open more sites for tourists to visit” he added.
    Attracting tourists means opening more sites to see.
    Tourist sites are spread out in town with the popular Sumaguing Cave and Echo Valley/ Baw-eng Hanging Coffins found in the central part of town.
    Bumod-ok Falls is the biggest attraction at the northern zone while Pongas Falls found in the southern part of town entices visitors. Newly launched southern sites are Balangagan cave, Tikangan River, Ubwa Blue Pool and the Pinumdeng Skyline with an amazing sight of clouds along the  roade and breathtaking view  of hills  yonder.
    Tourism has already peaked up in nearby Buscalan, Kalinga with thousands the past 11  months and the nearby new sites of the flower gardens of Atok Benguet attracting a number of tourists.   
    Much needs to be done to peak up tourism again in this Shangrila of the North.
    It  was in December last year to early March this year when tourists who nearly reached the town proper were told to go back  because they did not comply with  the town directive  to register  online  one to two day prior to arrival.
    That’s some nearly 500 tourists and that’s too much for tourists to know what’s going on in Sagada. That means  frustrated and angry tourists who travelled 10 or 12 hours from Manila who come to relax in Sagada and told to go back. That frustrating experience must have gone by word of mouth to another not to come to Sagada.
    It also meant the loss of local income. That could have meant P50,000 for 500 tourists or so for the local government’s coffers for its P100 environmental fee per tourist.
    And that until the regulation of one to two day online registration prior to arrival was changed March this year and tourists came slowly back with a few hundreds during weekends peaking up during long holiday weekends.
Lowered tour rates
An issue mostly heard from  tourists is that tour rates are high. For P3,100 for seven persons trek to Marlboro hills for the sunrise including shuttle and guide for the view was quite high especially for low budget tourists obvious with passengers squeezed in a van.
    The P2,000 charge for walk from Paytokan to Bokong falls via Baw-eng hanging coffins for seven persons too was a complaint most often heard. That was since December last year until rates were recently changed with the passage of executive order 55 series of 2022  that provided lowered tour rates by town Mayor Felicito Dula.
    The Sanggunian Bayan affirmed this with resolution  no. 215 series of 2022 providing a six month dry-run on lowered tour rates.
    The new law cites P300 for 1-10 persons to one guide going to Echo ValleyBaw-eng hanging coffins; P800 for 10 persons to one guide going to Marlboro hills for the sunrise and P1,400 for trek to Marlboro Hills to Blue Soil for a group of 10 persons to one guide and shuttle at P650.
    It must be that people are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic that a hundred pesos is more of a precious amount to buy two kilos of rice rather than go on travel.
Healing the soul
A tourist who stayed long here said she came to relax herself from the stress- both business and domestic issues in Manila.
    That was when actress Angelica Panganiban came for a film shooting at  Kiltepan peak a few years back to break away from a heartbreak to find peace and heal in Sagada.
    Sagada is host to soothing sites -- waterfalls one can take a dip in, rice fields’ greenery during spring March on to April or golden yellow-brown harvestable look from May to July depending on the season one arrives in town, hills for trekking and sight-seeing wondrous hills and mountains yonder all with a refreshing air free of charge.
    Mellow and relaxing meditative walks can be found within the compound of the Church of St Mary the Virgil with verdant greeneries and a rich history of a century-old church building.
    This must have been the inspiration of locals who participated in tagline-making for Sagada’s tourism facilitated by the Dewey School from Manila and the Municipal Tourism Office last November.
    Participants’ taglines mostly focused on healing the soul, feeling and discovering nature and experiencing Sagada.
    Sagada also offers adventure sites.Among millennials, adventure is a major reason why they come to Sagada, a tourist said.

Enjoying the thrills of spelunking at Sumaguing cave is a challenging treat. Add to that the newly opened Balangagan cave in the southern part of town for those who find thrill in caving.

One will enjoy sunrise trek to Marlboro Hills in the eastern part of town to follow with a dip at the waterfalls of Pongas in southern Sagada or the Bumod-ok falls in the northern part of town.  

With the fast paced and busy life in Manila and other highly commercialized places, Sagada offers breathing and relaxing peace of mind some tourists might be looking for.

For some, one day is not enough to stay and discover sites in town. Some stay for two days and come back again. Some get addicted to Sagada’s natural high and find heaven’s haven in this culture and nature intertwined place.  

Observing culture

Tourists are not excluded from observing the culture of the town.

Advisories from the municipal tourism office names sites where it is taboo to go to on certain days due to certain rituals.

Advisories from the Church of St Mary the Virgin advise propriety when burial mass is held. During Lenten season, visiting Echo Valley/Hanging Coffins is not allowed considering the way going to the site pass along the church.   

Elder Barbara Bumatang from Demang said it is frustrating to see some quides who wait for a burial mass to end and hurriedly guide tourists.

The burial caves particularly that at sitio Baw-eng where finds the hanging coffins  and places where ricefields are found are not allowed for viewing. This naturally includes waterfalls found where ricefields are located nearby. 

The observance of the cultural  rest day here  called ubaya in the dialect was a major discussion among the residents of central barangays of Dagdag, Demang and Patay Poblacion who attended a meeting to discuss tourism amont others last Nov.r 30.

Ubaya or rest day is a cultural practice when people don’t go to the ricefields  or cease working on anything that makes noise like carpentry or weaving.

People during ubaya are then expected to stay at home doing household chores or cleaning surroundings of the house or hold meetings with friends or neighbors or the community. Such is Sagada.