No ‘Forevermore’ for vendors at protected site made famous by TV

THE FICTITIOUS La Presa community in the soap opera “Forevermore” is actually Sitio Pungayan in Tuba, Benguet province. The attention allowed local folks to sell vegetables and other produce, but a permanent environmental protection order has stopped it. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Ejection suits have been filed against 13 settlers, who owned stalls that sell food and souvenir items to tourists visiting the location shoot of the television soap opera “Forevermore” in Mt. Santo Tomas in Tuba, Benguet.

These settlers ignored a 2014 Supreme Court writ of kalikasan and a May 6 permanent environmental protection order (Pepo) imposed by the Court of Appeals over the Mt. Sto.  Tomas forest reservation, said Ralph Pablo, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional director in the Cordillera.

Baguio-Benguet Bishop Carlito Cenzon and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas sued for an environmental writ last year because of an illegal road construction that damaged sections of Mt. Cabuyao inside the Mt. Sto. Tomas reservation and polluted a water source there.

But the Pepo also stopped further development in Sitio Pungayan in Tuba, which continues to draw tourists because the fictitious “Sitio La Presa” of the ABS-CBN soap “Forevermore” was shot in that community. The teleserye ended airing early this year.

The 13 settlers had left the area leading to Pungayan but they returned recently and built new houses and stalls, Pablo said.

He said the DENR is in the middle of ground preparation work, beginning with an inventory of the 600 families living in the forest reservation. A checkpoint has also been put up to prevent the entry of construction materials for new houses or stalls there.

A separate criminal complaint against Baguio
Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr., who was blamed for the 2-kilometer long road excavation that was discovered by hikers last year, had been sent to the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complaint filed by DENR personnel had been stalled when government prosecutors in Baguio City and Benguet inhibited themselves from the case, said Julio Lopez, Benguet provincial environment and natural resources officer.

Lopez, who is one of the complainants, said they were urged to file the case at the Office of the Ombudsman instead.

Aliping had denied any role in building the road, but the Pepo required him to spend for the restoration of the damaged area in the mountain.

In Ifugao province, checkpoints have been put up along a road that traverses the  Mt. Polis reserve to prevent illegal quarry operators from digging up sections of the mountain.

Bishop Valentin Dimoc, of the Vicariate of Bontoc (Mountain  Province) and Lagawe (Ifugao), petitioned an Ifugao regional trial court to issue a temporary environment protection order (Tepo) to stop quarrying that has eroded sections of Mt. Polis, which straddles Mountain Province and Ifugao.

The court issued a 72-hour Tepo covering Mt. Polis last week. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon