On July 15, 2024, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) will be celebrating its 37th founding anniversary as a special temporary administrative region anchored on the theme “Multi-Culturalism Towards Regional Autonomy and Development” All roads will be leading to Abra that will serve as this year’s host local government with President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. serving as the region’s guest of honor and speaker.
Cordillera leaders, representatives of civil society organizations (CSO) and the people will be presenting to the President a signed strongly worded manifesto voicing out the need for the national government to fulfill its obligation under the 1987 Philippine Constitution to establish the autonomous region in the Cordillera which was left out following the enhanced Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through the enacted Bangsamoro Organic Law. The said manifesto will also be transmitted to both chambers of Congress to send the much clearer message on the clamor of Cordillerans for self-determination and self-governance to allow the region to develop on its own pace to catch up with the growth and development of other regions. Admittedly, the Cordillera has been left behind in terms of development because the central government strictly adhered to policies that are generally applicable to the lowland communities but are not effective and feasible in highland areas like the region, thus, it did not actually get its rightful share from the country’s meager resources.
The region is dominated by indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities that are endowed with rich heritage, history, culture, tradition and more importantly blessed with a pristine nature which must be preserved and protected amidst the existence of inter-marriages among cultures inside and outside the region that now allows the emergence of multi-cultures. However, indigenous peoples remain steadfast in their efforts to put premium on the preservation of the region’s age-old tradition to avoid its eventual extinction with the influence of the rapid advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) and inter-marriages among people from different parts of the world.
Truly, multi-culturalism should serve as an added tool for Cordillerans to embark to realize the region’s quest for autonomy. We have to involve our non-Cordilleran brothers and sisters in this endeavor for us to remain inclusive. Be inclusive to avoid previous fears that autonomy is just for indigenous peoples. Reality dictates that we are now in a fast changing world that developments unfold rapidly and steadily but Cordillerans should remain resilient and inclusive for us to realize the aspirations of our forebears.
Let us now the gains of the past to simply be ruined by efforts to derail the quest. People should understand that our region was established after hundreds of lives of our ancestors were lost in armed struggles to gain the recognition of our leaders that we need autonomy for us to grow in harmony with nature. We owe the existence of our own region to those who really risked their lives for a purpose and not to those who present themselves to the present generation as heroes on their own right without nothing to say and without concrete action to advance our clamor for self-rule.
We should learn to repay the efforts that were started by our ancestors by sustaining the same and not allowing the clamor for autonomy to eventually end up in the air without doing anything as it will surely be a taboo to do so. Cordillerans have their own core values that are inherent upon them that is why it is important for us to elevate such endeavor to a higher level and with passion and dedication. Let us continue baking on our established strengths and compliment the same with those from other cultures for us to win their hearts that will guide us on the way of achieving autonomy. It might take long for us to have it but it should not die a natural death.
Many of those who actively participated in the signing of the historic Mount Data ‘sipat’ or exchange of peace tokens on September 13, 1986 at the Mount Data hotel in Bauko,
Mountain Province have already passed away for various reasons but their dream for self-determination still reverberates among us. The present generation of Cordillerans should give justice to their supreme sacrifices by working hard to ensure the grant of autonomy within a reasonable period of time. Let us not wait for another 37 years for us to be able to win the hearts of the people to support autonomy. As the manifesto of the concerned sectors has blatantly stated, we need autonomy now, thus, our national leaders should listen to the resounding beating of the gong indicating our united efforts towards regional autonomy and development during the presidency of the younger Marcos.
Let us make the establishment of the autonomy region by attempting at the third crack and not wait for another long period of time to lapse as the situation might be totally different 37 years from now.
