Business stalls sprout in TV’s ‘La Presa’ village

BRANDING Strawberry dealers at the Baguio City Public Market have labelled their wares “La Presa,” apparently riding on the popularity of a fictional soap opera community atop Mount Sto. Tomas, which had made a vegetable community there in Benguet’s Tuba town a tourist attraction. Some farms in Sitio Pungayan, the location used to shoot the TV show, does produce strawberries, but it is not clear if these crops have found their way to Baguio. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Business stalls have expanded overnight in Sitio Pungayan, the location of a popular television soap opera atop Mt. Sto. Tomas in Tuba town, but the local government has not ordered their demolition.

On Jan. 21, representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local government inspected Pungayan, which tourists have been visiting since December, said Jomarie Romero, Tuba licensing officer.

The TV drama “Forevermore” has been shooting episodes at a property there, which it identifies in the show as the fictional community of “La Presa.”

Romero said the DENR reminded the residents and vendors that Pungayan is part of the protected Mt. Sto. Tomas watershed. It also informed them that a portion of the watershed at nearby Mt. Cabuyao has become the subject of a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) in September last year, she said.

The order prohibited people from expanding further into the watershed and improving existing structures there or building new ones.

The order addressed the environmental complaint filed by Baguio and Tuba residents for an unauthorized road excavation that was carved through the forest there.

“There was a backhoe there [on Jan. 29] for an episode of the show involving a demolition. It was just a shoot but the vendors were alarmed to see the backhoe,” Romero said.

“But we have nothing to do with the implementation of the Tepo. Our role was to check whether the vendors have secured business permits,” she said.

As of Jan. 30, the Tuba municipality identified 50 stalls selling food and souvenir items there. Seven vendors have acquired business licenses, Romero said.

“The vendors cannot use the business permits we issued [as a waiver against] demolitions,” she said, if the DENR finds that the stalls’ presence there violates the Tepo.

Felix Siplat, the indigenous peoples mandatory representative to Barangay (village) Cabuyao, said vendors could set up makeshift or collapsible stalls.

“They can set up tables with umbrellas and maybe tents, for as long as these are not permanent structures,” he said, adding that the tourist influx during the Christmas holidays opened up new livelihood sources for Pungayan residents.