BAGUIO CITY – Two senators assured their all-out support to the Cordillera’s quest for autonomy to contribute in efforts to speed up the development of the region to be at par with other well developed regions in the country.
Former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri recently reaffirmed his support to the region’s quest for autonomy and that the upper chamber is simply awaiting the passage of House Bill (HB) 3267 or the bill that seeks to establish the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) considering that it is a local bill that must first emanate from the House of Representatives.
During the 18th Congress, Zubiri authored Senate Bill (SB) 1232 that served as the Senate counterpart bill for the autonomy bill that was filed by Cordillera congressmen in the previous Congress.
Further, the senator was also the author of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the 18th Congress that subsequently resulted to the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BArMM) which is currently on the transition stage in preparation for its first ever elections by next year.
The former Senate President pointed out that BARMM is now reaping the fruits of being an autonomous region and that he also wants the Cordillera to enjoy the same in the future once the autonomy law will be ratified by the people in the future.
According to him, the ball now lies in the lower house on when to pass the Organic Act for the Cordillera so that the Senate will be able to immediately act on the counterpart bill once the House version will be transmitted to the upper chamber.
For his part, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara expressed his support to the decision of the Cordillera to become autonomous as the same remains to be the choice of the people.
He stipulated that once the version of the lower House will be transmitted to the Senate for the passage of the requisite counterpart bill, senators will surely work on the matter like what they did in passing the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Senator Angara emphasized that what matters is that the Cordillerans fully support the establishment of the autonomous region for the realization of the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera.
HB 3267 authored by all Cordillera congressmen is now pending deliberation with the House committee on appropriations after the same was passed upon by the house committee on local government and house committee on ways and means.
Autonomy advocates from the different parts of the Cordillera asserted that the establishment of the autonomous region will greatly contribute in efforts to move people out from the shackles of poverty because the regional government will be able to craft economic policies suitable to the existing conditions in the region and enact policies that are applicable to the situation in the mountainous terrains in the covered local governments.
Numerous lawmakers in the upper and lower chambers of Congress have previously committed their support to the passage of the proposed autonomy law once it will be submitted for second and third readings in both Houses of Congress in the future. By Dexter A. See