PASAY CITY – Four bills seeking the establishment of the Autonomous Region in the Cordillera (ARC) are now pending in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, clearly showing the region’s renewed quest for autonomy is within the radar of national leaders and legislators.
House Bill (HB) 5343, authored by all Cordillera congressmen, is still pending deliberation with the House committee on local government while the Cordillera autonomy bill’s counterpart legislation in the Senate. Senate Bill (SB) 1678 authored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, SB 1923 authored by Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito and SB 1930 authored by Senator Paulo Benigno Bam Aquino IV are all pending with the Senate committee chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara.
Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III also assured Cordillera leaders and concerned stakeholders during the Cordillera Leaders Forum on Autonomy with Senators held at the Century Park Hotel in Malate, Manila last August 10 that he will also file a similar version of the Cordillera autonomy bill to help strengthen the approval of the legislation in the Senate once the measures will be calendared for committee and plenary debates in the coming weeks.
Autonomy advocates composed of local officials, private sector, civil society representatives and concerned stakeholders were in Manila to continue lobbying with the members of both chambers of Congress for the immediate passage of the pending Cordillera autonomy bills. The passage of these bills will help complete the government’s peace initiatives in the north considering the enactment into law of the more controversial Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that was recently signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on North Luzon, and Secretary Adelino Sitoy of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office were also in attendance during the said meeting. They committed to help drum beat the region’s renewed quest for autonomy as part of the peace agenda of the Chief Executive, considering the partial realization of the government’s overall peace agenda with the enactment into law of the BOL. The passage of the pending legislations seeking the establishment of the ARC will complete the completion of the peace agenda in the north.
The Cordillera Leaders Forum on Autonomy with Senators was organized by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera with the support of the Cotabato-based Institute of Autonomy and Governance (IAG), OPAPP and the PLLO with the primary objective of drum beating the region’s renewed quest for autonomy because of the need for lawmakers to act on the pending bills seeking for the establishment of the ARC vis-à-vis the planned shift to federal form of government by the present administration.
The RDC-CAR and its partners will continue to be engaging more lawmakers in the national scene to commit their unconditional support to the region’s renewed quest for self-governance because autonomy has been seen as the only means to help people move out of the shackles of poverty through of greater control of the region’s sources with lesser restraint from outside forcers.
By Dexter A. See
