A showbiz team sent by Malacanang to Sagada to come up with footages to be used in the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) was spurned by the town.
The group just barged in presuming that by brandishing their authorization from Malacanang, the town would welcome them with a red carpet, or that its officials would be like dogs wagging their tails expectant of morsels to be thrown to them.
If the group had some respect for any decision the town would have made which must pass through its Covid Inter-agency Task Force, they could have waited first for the go signal that they would be welcome before proceeding. .
But no. The group wanted to present a fait accompli. So a request was made electronically but was calculated so that the group would be there already when the decision would be arrived at. With that it would be harder to refuse them . Plus of course that authorization from the country’s center of power.
Then there is that attitude of the group that they are famous and , from their experience in the lowland towns, that just by their being showbiz personalities would make people go gaga whenever they appeared. That towns and their people would suddenly forget their health protocols, especially quarantine requirements.
They were dead wrong. Cordillerans generally don’t fawn over actors and actresses. Time and again this was proven the hard way by actors who ran for elective positions in Baguio, they were trounced.
And so it came to pass that Sagada’s leaders were being profusely praised in the internet by people from all corners of the globe. It was a celebration on how probinsyanos like us Cordillerans should stand our ground even against the most powerful people like the President when our welfare is at stake.
By the way, the group also tried Ifugao and they got the same treatment. They were escorted by policemen on their way out of the province.
The fiasco is an invaluable lesson to learn. Don’t underestimate anybody, even those in the hinterlands.
At least the group and the powers-that-be found out what Igorots are made of.**