Sadanga
More actions
| Sadanga | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Growing Region | Cordillera Central |
| Geography | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Province/State | Mountain Province |
| Municipality | Sadanga |
| Coordinates | 17.22, 121.06 |
| Landscape | |
| Terrain | Mountains |
| Growing history | |
| Dated news reports | 2026 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Sadanga is a landrace cannabis growing area in the barangays of Saclit and Betwagan, in the municipality of Sadanga, Mountain Province, in the Cordillera Administrative Region of northern Luzon, Philippines.[1] It is a growing area of the Cordillera Central region. In 2000 police raided a plantation at Mount Churyon in Betwagan.[2] Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have destroyed plantations in Saclit and on its boundary with Tinglayan in Kalinga since 2019, among them sites at Sitio Paras, Mount Chalimuno and Mount Makago-ong.[3][4][5][6][7]
Geography
Sadanga has a land area of 259.79 square kilometres, divided into eight barangays. The 2020 census counted 8,427 inhabitants, 916 of them in Saclit and 2,122 in Betwagan.[1] Saclit borders three barangays of Sadanga (Betwagan, Bekigan and Demang) and three of Tinglayan (Buscalan, Loccong and Bugnay).[8] Betwagan also borders Bugnay in Tinglayan and Lias Kanluran and Lias Silangan in Barlig.[9] The elevation at the coordinates of Saclit is estimated at about 1,110 metres and at those of Betwagan at about 1,030 metres.[8][9]
A police officer who took part in the raid of 2000 described the ground of the Mount Churyon plantation as "somewhat slope and a little bit flat" and agreed that it was rolling hills.[2]
Cultivation
The charge in the 2000 case placed a marijuana plantation of about ten hectares on public land at Mount Churyon; the trial court found that the land had not been shown to be part of the public domain. An officer of the scouting party testified that he thought more or less four hectares were planted, with fully grown plants of about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres), younger plants of about 2 feet (0.6 metres) and seedlings. The Court of Appeals found that only marijuana grew in the area and that a hut, apparently used as a camp or temporary dwelling, stood alone within it. In the appeal court's summary, the accused asserted that the plantation "was maintained by the Cordillera People's Liberation Army which witness Cayad confirmed likewise". Andrew Cayad headed the intelligence section of the Mountain Province police. The courts held that ownership of the land is not a requisite of the offence of cultivation. In 2008 the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the accused for cultivating marijuana.[2]
In 2020 residents and officials of Saclit reported plantations in their area to the Sadanga police. An investigation found that the plantations lay in disputed territory. Saclit residents said the cultivators came from neighbouring Buscalan and had been planting marijuana on their land.[10] The mayor of Sadanga, Gabino Ganggangan, said that people from the barangays of Buscalan and Bugnay had been encroaching on his town's land to plant marijuana.[11] By Executive Order 18 of 2020 he barred tourists bound for Buscalan, Loccong, Bugnay and other barangays of the Butbut from the road section in Sadanga, as a measure to help stop or curb the marijuana business or its transshipment.[10]
The four sites destroyed on Mount Makago-ong in May 2026 were in an area previously affected by a forest fire.[12] At Mount Chalimuno in February 2025 drug agents burned dried leaves and fruiting tops weighing about 3 kilograms and five bricks of dried leaves with the growing plants.[5]
Enforcement
In August 2019 Mountain Province police destroyed 52,800 fully grown plants at four sites on the boundaries of Tinglayan and Saclit.[3] On 6 August 2020 the drug enforcement agency and the Cordillera police burned the plants at four sites along the boundary of Saclit and Buscalan, under the agency's Oplan "Pakhu" and the police's Oplan "Grasshopper".[10] On 9 April 2021 police and the agency uprooted about 25,000 fully grown plants and seedlings at nine plantations in Saclit and in Buscalan.[13]
On 23 September 2021 police destroyed 152,000 fully grown plants at three sites covering 15,200 square metres in Sitio Paras, Saclit.[4] Saclit was also among the targets of Oplan Herodotus, which the Cordillera police ran that week.[14] On 16 November 2024 the drug enforcement agency burned 45,000 fully grown plants on a single site of about 1,800 square metres in Saclit. In February 2025 it burned at least 10,500 fully grown plants on about 1,500 square metres at Mount Chalimuno. No cultivators were caught at either site.[15][5]
On 27 February 2026, 12,000 fully grown plants were destroyed at Mountain Paras in Saclit. A report of October 2026 also gives 30,000 fully grown plants destroyed at Mountain Fisak in Saclit, without a date. The drug enforcement agency rewarded the informants whose tips led to both sites.[16] On 13 and 14 March the agency's Mountain Province office and the Sadanga police burned about 25,500 fully grown plants on about 1,500 square metres on the Sadanga–Tinglayan border, under OPLAN Parapay.[17] On 18 April about 60,000 fully grown plants on a 5,000-square-metre plantation were burned on the boundary of Saclit and Tinglayan.[18]
On 1 May 2026 an operation led by the Cordillera regional police uprooted and burned 140,000 fully grown plants and 84,000 seedlings at four sites on Mount Makago-ong, along the boundary of Saclit and Buscalan.[12] On 11 and 12 July about 100,000 fully grown plants on a plantation of about 10,000 square metres were destroyed on Mount Makago-ong in Saclit, near the Sadanga–Tinglayan boundary.[6] On 14 September about 36,000 fully grown plants on a 6,000-square-metre parcel of public land were destroyed along the boundary of Saclit and Tinglayan.[7] No arrests were reported at the sites in April or July. No cultivators were caught in March or September.[18][6][17][7]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Conservation status
Recent news
| Article | Date | Category | Plants |
|---|---|---|---|
| News:2026-09-14/Eradication/pdea-led-team-uproots-about-36-000-marijuana-plants-at-saclit-in-sadanga | Eradication | 36,000 |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Sadanga, Province of Mountain Province". PhilAtlas. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "People of the Philippines v. Ricardo Alunday, G.R. No. 181546". Supreme Court of the Philippines. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via The LawPhil Project.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See, D.A. (28 August 2019). "P17.4-M marijuana destroyed in Cordillera". The Manila Times. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bordey, H. (25 September 2021). "PNP destroys P30.4 million worth of marijuana in Mt. Province". GMA News Online. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Dumlao, A.A. (10 February 2025). "Mt. Province cannabis plantation torched". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Quitasol, A. (13 July 2026). "P20M worth of marijuana destroyed in Mountain Province raid". Daily Tribune. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Quitasol, A. (15 September 2026). "P7.2M marijuana plants destroyed in Cordillera". Daily Tribune. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Saclit, Municipality of Sadanga, Mountain Province". PhilAtlas. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Betwagan, Municipality of Sadanga, Mountain Province". PhilAtlas. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "P2.5-M illegal weed burned in Kalinga, Mountain Province boundary". SunStar. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Dumlao, A. (9 August 2020). "PDEA: Raided plantations disprove marijuana grows naturally in Cordillera". Philstar.com. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Quitasol, A. (2 May 2026). "P31.36-M marijuana destroyed in Cordillera anti-drug operation". Daily Tribune. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Dalizon, A.P. (10 June 2021). "Cordillera cops burn over P100M MJ amid 'search -and-destroy operations". People's Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Dalizon, A.P. (28 September 2021). "CAR PNP's 'Oplan Herodotus' net nearly P500M marijuana". People's Journal. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Abarca, C. (18 November 2024). "PDEA burns P9 million worth of marijuana plants in Mt. Province". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Lo-oy, L. (11 October 2026). "₱360K reward for Kalinga informant who tipped off marijuana plantation". GuruPress Cordillera. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Divina, T. (16 March 2026). "₱5.1 million worth of marijuana destroyed in Mountain Province". DZRH News. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Dumlao, A.A. (20 April 2026). "P12-M marijuana plants torched in Mountain Province". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 19 October 2026.