WE the ‘pangbon’ of the 12 Dap-ay of Sagada residing in Sagada and elsewhere and especially the ‘dumap-ay’ of Bilig Dap-ay forward our sentiments and demands to stop the current building of a structure above Bilig Dap-ay at barangay Demang, Sagada.

A PhP 3 million project called Improvement of the Demang Multipurpose Hall funded by the Provincial Government of Mountain Province is projected to be finished by April 13, 2025.

Now constructed with posts and a flooring, the project is devoid of a free prior and informed consent (FPIC) and not well received by the dumap-ay from the 12 dap-ay of Central Sagada particularly Bilig Dap-ay.

The construction runs counter from the very principles of a dap-ay where the pangbon or the dumap-ay consult each other on issues that concern the dap-ay and the ‘ili’; contrary to the essence of a dap-ay built close to the ground signifying the very meaning of consultation and a collective.

It runs counter from the very prInciples of FPIC provisions of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and its implementing rules and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

It runs counter from the provisions of the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 to “protect, preserve, conserve and promote the nation's cultural heritage, its property and histories, and the ethnicity of local communities” in furtherance to the 1987 Philippine Constitution “to conserve, develop, promote and popularize the nation's historical and cultural heritage and resources”.

The design of this P3 million project sees a one story structure built above Bilig dap-ay on a 6.5 by 8.7 square meter area with its ugly posts sunked on the very grounds of more than a century old dap-ay, our cultural heritage. The current construction with a terrace in its design covers Bilig Dap-ay from the sky and the very age-old flat stones used as reclining seats of old men as they shaped values of 'inayan' and 'lawa', and ‘padaw’ victorious in our warriors’ history of their exploits in defense of land and people in the yesteryears.

Forwarding our say in the very crucial issues concerning Bilig dap-ay much as we are part in our participation on major events that happen in the dap-ay. This participation in the very nature of an ancestral domain where we as members of Central Sagada ancestral domain have similar cultural practises and beliefs in our collective gatherings during the ‘begnas’ and ‘dangtey’ to celebrate these cultural events.

Deny us not our rights as pangbon/dumap-ay our consultative rights; and our children and children’s children in the next generations on their rights to know what a dap-ay is and what it looks like as part of their history, cultural legacy they are proud and informed of.

We call for a consultation among the members of the 12 dap-ay of Sagada and most especially among the pangbon of Bilig dap-ay on this crucial matter not only discussed by the people in the ‘ili’ but also discussed in social media.

We call for a stop to the current structure being built.

These sentiments and demands we forward to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Office of the Municipal Mayor of Sagada, the PADEDA (Patay Demang Dagdag) organization, the Provincial Government of Mountain Province, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) for their appropriate action.

SIGNED

Members/Dumap-ay of Malingeb, Dolkigan, Maballay and Matuba of Dagdag; Dap-ay Patay; Pikong, Losban, Akikis, Tukipa, Bang-uwaw, Bilig and Lokong of Demang.