Justices to check forest condition in site of TV show ‘Forevermore’

A SOAP opera shot on location in Sitio Pungayan, a community of Benguet’s Tuba town atop the Mt. Sto. Tomas forest reservation, has become a tourism bonanza overnight since the Christmas holidays. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

TUBA, Benguet—Court of Appeals (CA) justices have scheduled an inspection of the shooting location of a popular TV soap opera in Sitio Pungayan on Mt. Sto. Tomas to assess the condition of the forest reservation there.

A small house in Pungayan, which is nestled inside the protected Sto. Tomas watershed, has been drawing visitors since October last year after it was chosen as the location shoot of the soap opera, “Forevermore.”

The appellate court is resolving a petition for a writ of kalikasan that was filed last year by Baguio and Tuba residents, including Baguio Bishop Carlito Cenzon, to stop a road excavation through a section of the watershed of nearby Mt. Cabuyao.

The petition urged the court to stop all development activities inside the watershed, including the proliferation of vegetable gardens, and the issuance of tax declarations for settlements.

The Supreme Court heeded the request by enforcing a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) over the watershed on Sept. 30.

Pungayan residents have built stalls to serve tourists mostly from Metro Manila who have been flocking to the village. This may have violated the Tepo, said Julio Lopez, Tuba community environment and natural resources officer.

“If we are to strictly follow the law, these stalls and comfort rooms should be removed. Even the [television] shoot should be stopped,” Lopez said.

He said at least 40 stalls were put up near the approach to Pungayan.

Tuba Councilor Adora Paus-Gabino said the local government granted the TV show’s producers a permit to shoot in Pungayan in 2014. She said they did not expect it would become a magnet for thousands of tourists.

The CA will conduct an ocular inspection of the watershed on Feb. 16 and 17, said Octavio Cuanso, Benguet provincial environment and natural officer.

A representative of the Office of the Solicitor General will accompany the CA justices, along with the petitioners and respondents, among them Cuanso and other officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Tuba government and Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr.

Aliping was accused of being behind the road excavation but denied it. He, however, admitted owning property inside the watershed, which he was developing into an ecological resort.

The Tepo stops all gardening activities there. It also prohibits the construction of new houses or the improvement of existing structures and bars the Tuba government from issuing tax declarations that would recognize the land claims.

Lopez said there are 637 existing tax declarations covering land claims within the Sto. Tomas reservation.

Cuanso spoke in a Feb. 11 dialogue with Cabuyao residents and Tuba officials on the impact of the Pungayan tourism on the Tepo. “Let us not fight over our resources but rather work together to conserve and protect these for our use and for the future generation,” he said.

Fr. Victor Munar, parish priest of Cabuyao village, said income from tourism has divided the people. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon