BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan stressed the realization of the establishment of an Autonomous Region in the Cordillera (ARC) is the gift of the present generation to the future generation of Cordillerans for them to be able to chart the region’s sustained growth and development.
The local chief executive pointed out that that the region’s renewed quest is not intended to benefit the present generation of Cordillerans because of the numerous intricacies involved in the establishment of the ARC, especially the current inaction of Congress to the pending bills in both chambers seeking the creation of the autonomous region, and the planned shift to federal form of government.
“We are working extra hard to achieve autonomy because of the enabling environment provided by the present administration as we want our children and our children’s children to reap the fruits of our on-going struggle for the realization of the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of the ARC,” Domogan stressed.
He urged Cordillerans to internalize the real essence of autonomy because self-governance will surely translate to robust growth in the region as the regional government will craft programs, policies and activities applicable to the peculiar situation of the region, unlike in the present highly centralized set up where all programs of government come from the central government even if the same does not conform with the situation in the region.
According to him, the realization of the establishment of the ARC is an obligation that he is working on as he does not want the future generation of Cordillerans to put the blame on the present leaders of the region why the constitutional provision was not availed during their term depriving them the desired utmost development, especially in the rural areas of the region.
He claimed that Cordillerans should grab the opportunity provided by the Duterte administration in striving for the establishment of the ARC because there might be no chance for the region to become autonomous with the recent development in the House of Representatives wherein the draft federal charter prepared by lawmakers virtually abolished the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of autonomous regions in the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao, contrary to the draft federal charter prepared by the Constitutional Committee (ConCom) created by the President to review the 1987 Constitution that maintained the provision for the establishment of the autonomous regions in the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao.
Earlier, the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera embarked on the region’s renewed quest for autonomy as its overarching agenda to speed up the development of the region which had been deprived of development opportunities during the previous administrations. By Dexter A. See
