Cordillera leaders and stakeholders articulated to the members of the House of Representatives and Senate the importance of achieving autonomy for the present Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in various engagements with lawmakers from the different legislative districts and partner government and private sector partners. Senators
and congressmen have signified their all-out support for the region’s renewed quest for autonomy and recognized the importance of completing the coveted peace process being initiated by the national government in both the southern and northern portions of the archipelago.
The government has gained a breakthrough in partially fulfilling the peace process in the south with the enactment into law of the more controversial Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) by no less than President Rodrigo R. Duterte who had previously, time and again, reiterated the importance of enhancing autonomy in Mindanao to put an end to the age-old conflict in the said area.
Section 15-21, Article 10 of the 1987 Constitution explicitly provides for the creation of the autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera in recognition of the desire of indigenous peoples (IPs) to chart their own development thrusts pursuant to their existing culture, heritage, history and traditions. The people of Muslim Mindanao achieved regional autonomy in their first attempt which was later expanded by Republic Act (RA) 9054 and lately, the BOL. For the Cordillera, this failed in the two attempts to achieve autonomy in 1990 and 1998 because of the watered down autonomy laws and the inadequate information of the Cordillerans on the real essence of autonomy.
By next week, the newly created technical working group (TWG) composed of Cordillera lawmakers will be meeting as per mandate from the House committee on local government to refine the provisions of the pending autonomy bill in the House. A consensus version will be the one approved by the House body similar to what has been done in the passage of the BOL.
It is important then for interested sectors to submit, as soon as possible, their inputs to the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera and the lawmakers from the region for incorporation as amendments to pertinent provisions of the proposed law.
We remain optimistic that our lawmakers will be open-minded on the proposed minor amendments to various provisions of the proposed autonomy law to accommodated as many sectors and avoid leaving out those even those against the current version of autonomy being promoted. The TWG must also take into consideration the clamor of various indigenous peoples in the region for the inclusion of their time-honored and proven best practices, especially
in consensus decision-making and conflict resolution, as part of the indigenous systems that need to be recognized and put into practice, to make the regional set-up reflective of the indigenous peoples of the region and make them own the law.
For example, while it is true that ‘bodong’ or peace pact is not a general practice among all the indigenous peoples in the different parts of the region, such age-old practice among some Kalinga, Abra and Mountain Province indigenous peoples. The principles guiding this system must be explicitly recognized because it was through the ‘bodong system’ between former President Corazon C. Aquino and the late Fr. Conrado Balweg of the Cordillera Bodong Administration–Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CBA-CPLA) that resulted to the secession of hostilities and the eventual creation of the CAR through Executive Order (EO) No. 220 issued on July 15, 1987. What is being clamored by those in the ‘binudngan’ areas is for government to recognize ‘bodong’ as an integral part of the peacekeeping systems of the State although it will be applicable to certain tribes in the different parts of the region.
This, and other practices, like indigenous forest management systems, must recognized in this law. The law must look into indigenous governance, knowledge and practices to make the law address the historical injustice which is the reason why the autonomy provision was placed in the Constitution. The law should not be to perpetuate traditional politics but to accommodate the very character of the region. The law must not give autonomy to traditional politicians. If the same arrangement we have now of politicians lording it over everyone is what is in the law, there is no point in having that over our heads. We need genuine regional autonomy. Lawmakers have to assure us Cordillerans that it is not business as usual. This is the third chance to achieve autonomy. The enabling environment has already been provided by the present administration. It is now up to the Cordilleran lawmakers craft a good law acceptable to their constituency. Do they want to grab the opportunity to achieve autonomy or waste another golden opportunity?
Let us use the bigger task ahead of us to work double time in making sure that we achieve autonomy and chart our thrust for better governance through our own applicable policies, regulations and programs that will be put in place for the benefit of all and not for a few.