BAGUIO CITY – Regional Development Council Chair and Abra Gov. Joy Bernos challenged the Cordillera Congressmen to be sincere in having the proposed Cordillera Organic Act passed during the December 12 Multi-stakeholder Gathering for Cordillera autonomy. Bernos recalled her time as representative of Abra when she viewed the filing of the proposed Cordillera Organic Act as mere compliance. Bernos cited a lack of commitment among the Congressmen before. The event was organized by NEDA-CAR in coordination with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) and the CAR Congressmen.
“Challenge accepted”, said neophyte Cong. Maximo Dalog, Jr. of Mountain Province who recalled his father’s staunch advocacy of self-determination for the Cordillera. “This is to correct a historical injustice”, he added, calling to mind the region’s history of development aggression and its status as the watershed for all major rivers of Northern Luzon.
“This has the best chance of passing”, said Ifugao representative Solomon Chungalao who was involved in the commission that drafted the first Cordillera Organic Act in 1989 which was submitted to Congress. Chungalao recalled that the national lawmakers came up with a reduced and watered-down version of the first draft to the point that the original drafters actively campaigned against it in the 1990 plebiscite.
The Congressman from Ifugao shared that one of the provisions removed from the previous Organic Acts was on the complete control and supervision over its natural resources by the Autonomous Region. This, according to Chungalao, is the essence of autonomy. He added that the Cordillera Congressmen unanimously agreed to include this in the current proposed law. Chungalao previously stated that he wanted to draft an Organic Act that he can personally defend and support.
The Congressman further shared that the authors of the bill have been gathering support from as much as a hundred members of the Lower House of Congress to co-author the proposed Cordillera Organic Act. The bill has been cited as a unanimous agreement between all the CAR representatives. Cong. Allen Jesse Mangaoang of Kalinga recalled the difficulty in having representatives from the different Cordillera provinces and the City of Baguio work together towards the common regional goal.
He has repeatedly given emphasis to the Constitutional obligation of Cordilleran Congressmen to pursue the establishment of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera. Further, one major change that Mangaoang proposed is to channel government subsidy towards revenue-generating projects to prepare the region for true fiscal autonomy after 10 years of national government subsidy is over.
Additionally, the proposed definition in House Bill 5687 is that the term Cordilleran has changed to apply to all citizens of the Philippines who are residents for at least one (1) year within the ARC. “We do not discriminate, we [indigenous peoples] have been discriminated against, this bill is all-embracing”, Dalog said.
Since 2008, through its Social Preparation of CAR into an Autonomous Region (NEDA-SPCAR) program, NEDA has conducted Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Alliance Building (AB), and Capability Building (CAP) activities to raise awareness of and gains support for Cordillera autonomy.
By Marlo Lubguban
