SADANGA, Mtn. Province – Sadanga Mayor Gabino Ganggangan will request the Department of Tourism (DOT) to find a good “puesto” for tattoo legend Whang-od in Baguio or Manila.
This came about after his Executive Order 18, S. 2020 prohibiting tourists going to Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga from using the road within the territorial jurisdiction of the Sadanga was questioned.
Tinglayan Mayor Sacramento Gumilab wrote Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan through the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to review the EO and declare it null and void for being inconsistent with the Constitution and the laws of the land.
Mayor Gumilab, in a letter to the governor dated August 3, cited that the EO impairs the constitutional right to travel of the tourists. Further, he invoked that the EO is unconstitutional for violation of the equal protection of the laws.
Sadanga Mayor Ganggangan, in response, said that Mayor Gumilab missed his main point in issuing the executive order which is the proliferation of marijuana in Tinglayan.
“The long and articulate discussion on my EO circled only on the issue of legality but sadly it lost sight of the main issue”.
The stoppage of the marijuana trade which is being conducted in the guise of tourism is claimed by the mayor as the main point.
He challenged and called on those who are maybe truly concerned, including Mayor Gumilab and the leaders of the barangays of Tinglayan, to help in stopping the marijuana trade.
Mayor Ganggangan said that tourists going to Tinglayan and Buscalan to see tattoo legend Whang-od are actually interested in getting marijuana and its by products to bring back home.
But Mayor Gumilab claims in the letter that the reason for the EO is based on flawed logic to support a conclusion that tourists visiting Tinglayan especially Buscalan are only interested in marijuana.
It is at this point that Mayor Ganggangan forwarded a proposal for the Department of Tourism (DOT) to bring Whang-od outside of Buscalan and Tinglayan either to Baguio or Manila for her to practice her tattoo craft.
“Let us see if the marijuana producers or growers will still prosper if Whang-od is not anymore in Buscalan”, quipped Mayor Ganggangan.
Since tourists are not yet allowed to go to Buscalan or Tinglayan, the mayor claims that there is nobody who is aggrieved by his EO. The other party to be aggrieved must be the marijuana growers but he doubts that they would come out to question his EO.
Mayor Ganggangan said that he would soon write DOT a formal letter to bring his predicament to the agency for appropriate action.
Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan, for his part, said that he has not acted yet on the EO saying that the Local Government Code gives him 30 days to act on it.
But he sent a letter to Mayor Gumilab acknowledging receipt of the latter’s letter last August 5, 2020. **Roger Sacyaten
