SABLAN, Benguet – The municipal government underscored that the municipality should remain as an agriculture and a tourism haven to sustain the preservation and protection of the environment and the existing economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people.
Mayor Alfredo Dacumos, Jr. said that the implementation of large-scale developments in the different parts of the locality such as housing projects will definitely affect the town’s current state of the environment and the availability of lands used to produce agricultural crops to sustain food security for the people not only in the town but also in neighboring communities.
He claimed that agents serving as brokers for the sale of lands in the different barangays for possible development are the ones who are profiting and these sales are reducing the production areas and eventually compromise the state of the environment once there will be large-scale development that will be introduced.
He emphasized that Sablan should remain as an agriculture and tourism haven to provide adequate supply of fruits and vegetables for its residents and to neighboring communities instead of being developed for housing projects and other large-scale infrastructure that might affect its overall situation in the future.
The municipal chief executive disclosed that Sablan established its identity as the fruit basket of Benguet and Baguio, and that it should remain as such considering its ideal location between highland and lowland communities.
According to him, real estate brokers are the ones earning from the sale of lands in the different barangays and the sale of lands has become a lucrative business considering the implementation of various road projects that interconnect the town from other municipalities within the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area.
The mayor explained that the conversion of lands in the municipality from agriculture to residential is alarming because it will lead to the significant reduction in production areas with the agricultural lands being lost to housing projects to accommodate the increasing demand for housing within the BLISTT as Baguio City is already overcrowded due to its rapidly increasing population.
Dacumos underscored that by being an agriculture and a tourism haven, Sablan will maintain its greenery and sustain its established identity as a major source of quality fresh fruits including lowland fruits are now being grown in the locality.
The mayor stipulated that people be more circumspect in their decisions to sell their properties to housing developers and lose their agricultural lands from where they derive their sources of livelihood and ensure their food security. Once they lose their lands, they may not be able to have sustainable income.
Sablan is the source of fresh fruits which thrive in the locality and being sold in the different markets around the BLISTT. By Dexter A. See
