BAGUIO CITY – The celebration of the 33rd founding anniversary of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) this year will be one for the history books because it will be conducted virtually pursuant to the guidelines crafted by the national inter-agency task force for the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases on mass gatherings.
Milagros A. Rimando, regional director of the Cordillera office of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA-CAR) and vice chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR), said that based on the results of consultations done with the concerned sectors, the celebration of this year’s CAR founding anniversary will not be cancelled because it is a historic gathering that constantly serves as a reminder to the people on the unaccomplished mission of becoming an autonomous region.
She claimed that while Mountain Province begged off from hosting the annual gathering of Cordillerans every July 15, appropriate arrangements are being done with concerned stakeholders for the virtual conduct of the gatherings where there will be convergence of sectors in the seat of the provinces and cities and messages will be delivered online to constantly inculcate to the people the importance of the region’s quest for autonomy.
Mountain Province was supposedly this year’s host local government while the Cordillera office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be the host agency for the 33rd Cordillera month and CAR founding anniversary celebration scheduled from July 8-15, 2020.
Rimando asserted that the convergence of people in the seat of the provinces and cities will still adhere to the policy on physical distancing and the wearing of masks to prevent the possible spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease (COVID) 2019.
The NEDA-CAR official disclosed that part of the messages of local officials will be the lessons that they were able to learn from the wrath of the global pandemic, their best practices, challenges among others in connection to the quest for self-governance.
However, she claimed that the guest of honor and speaker during the gathering will still have to be chosen by the organizers and that he or she will deliver his or her message virtually.
According to her, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) assured that the internet connectivity in the provincial capitols and city halls in the region is stable that is why most of the activities that had been lined up for this year’s CAR founding anniversary celebration could be done virtually and to give justice to the forerunners of autonomy who already joined the Creator in the great beyond.
Director Rimando explained that the theme of this year’s celebration, “One Resilient Cordillera,” is timely because of the need for Cordillerans to be resilient after the heavy impact of the global pandemic to the region’s economy and the sources of livelihood of the people where the same is still aligned with the quest for autonomy.
On July 15, 1987, former President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order (EO) 2020 that brought together the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province and Baguio City from the Ilocos Region and the provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao from the Cagayan Valley Region to comprise the CAR.
The CAR will serve as a special temporary administrative region while it will be working for the realization of the constitutional provision mandating the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera.
The issuance of EO 220 was an offshoot of the ‘sipat’ or peace agreement entered into between the Philippine government represented by former President Aquino and the Cordillera peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) headed by former rebel priest Conrado Balweg on September 13, 1986 at the historic Mount Data hotel in Bauko, Mountain province.
By Hent
Photo by Joseph B. Manzano
