Emano to inaugurate bridge in Huluga site

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Heritage Conservation Advocates (HCA) and the National Museum are set to file a case with the Supreme Court this week to stop Mayor Vicente Emano from pursuing a road and bridge project that has reportedly destroyed part of the Huluga Site, the original settlement of pre-historic Cagayanons.

Despite the howls of protest from various sectors, led by the HCA, Emano is proceeding with the project and will even inaugurate the cargo bridge today.

According to lawyer Manuel Ravanera, an HCA convenor, the National Museum will file a case against Emano for violating the Environment Management Bureau’s (EMB) cease and desist order against the project last Aug. 15.

"There is already a cease and desist order from the national government, through the EMB, which is executory and cannot be appealed and yet he continued with the project," Ravanera told The STAR.

The National Museum has earlier certified that the P648 million road and bridge project, which connects Bgys. Balulang and Macasandig, destroyed a promontory where many prehistoric artifacts were discovered.

"The promontory or the hill where plenty of artifacts were found was ripped apart due to the construction of the road," said Sheldon Clyde Jago-on, an archaeologist of the National Museum, during a recent archaeological survey in Huluga.

The cease and desist order also fined the city government some P50,000 and ordered it to put up signs to warn residents of the importance of the site.

But Emano, in his many radio interviews, said he will not put up signs in the area indicating that Huluga is a heritage site because the area is considered private property and he didn’t want to be accused of trespassing.

The HCA has also alleged that the construction project has no environment clearance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The HCA further said that the city government failed to conduct an archaeological impact assessment (AIA) to survey the surface for artifacts, and to salvage materials discovered during road construction.

According to Dr. Erlinda Burton, resident anthropologist and director of the Research Institute of Mindanao Culture (RIMCU) of the Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, the Huluga Site was occupied in the early part of the Neolithic period.

The discovery of prehistoric artifacts and human remains at the Huluga Site in 1970 prompted the City Council to pass an ordinance declaring it a heritage site. But despite this, the city government recently built the P600-million South Diversion road, also known as the Pelaez road-and-bridge project, which resulted in the destruction of the promontory.