Tighter security pushed for Benguet burial caves
BY XENIA RIBAYA, ABS-CBN News North Luzon | 11/26/2008 11:36 PM
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LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET – Situated in the heart of the virgin forest of Sitio Peril in Barangay Alno is what native inhabitants popularly tag as Peril Caves where numerous remains of early Cordilleran dwellers and Japanese soldiers lie.
Local and foreign tourists flock to this newly-discovered attraction. Benguet’s local government however plans to impose stricter security measures.
“It would be good to develop this as a tourist destination but it should not be commercialized to the extent that it would desecrate the remains there,” said Benguet Gov.Nestor Fongwan.
Santos Mero, Cordillera People’s Alliance deputy secretary general, supported Fongwan’s proposal.
Mero added that more watchdogs are needed in order to prevent the loss of such sacred remains of the rich culture of Benguet.
In 1980’s, around 80 skeletons from the burial caves of Buguias in Benguet were declared missing. It included the most revered remains of Apo Ammo, a 500-year-old mummy, which Benguet people believe to be a son of a goddess.
After it was found in 1984, it was kept in a museum in Manila, and then it was brought back to Benguet.
In Mountain Province, the Sagada Tourist Environment Association (STEA) expressed stricter monitoring of tourists in Sagada’s burial caves.
Edward Dalay, STEA president, said that they are becoming more vigilant because tourists are becoming irresponsible leading to the desecration of Sagada’s enticing culture.
