TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang is pushing for an aggressive upstream lobby with the members of the Senate and President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to be able to advance the region’s quest for autonomy during the incumbency of the Chief Executive who happens to be from the north.
Mangaoang, who chairs the House committee on national cultural minorities and indigenous peoples, pointed out the need to re-strategize the efforts in gaining the support of national figures on the clamor for self-determination so that the much-desired autonomy law will be passed into law by both chambers of Congress and subsequently signed by the President.
He disclosed that he will personally engage Apayao Gov. Elias C. Bulut, Jr., who is the current chair of the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera, to exert efforts in trying to bring all the present and past leaders of the Cordillera in a gathering in Malacanang to show to President Marcos, Jr. that the Cordillerans are now united in the quest for autonomy to be able to convince him in certifying the pending proposed autonomy law as a priority administration measure.
Further, the lawmaker claimed that Cordillera congressmen are doing their part in lobbying with their colleagues for the approval of the proposed autonomy law in the concerned House committees so that it will be eventually calendared for plenary debates during the second regular session of the 19th Congress to achieve the timetable that was earlier prepared on the region’s quest for autonomy.
Earlier, the House committees on local government and ways and means already approved House Bill (HB) 3267 or the bill that seeks to establish the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) while it is now pending with the House committee on appropriations with emphasis on the fiscal viability of the autonomy region that is being deliberated upon by the concerned lawmakers in coordination with the economic managers of the present administration.
Congressman Mangaoang underscored that what is important at this time is for Cordillerans to be able to show that they are united in the clamor for autonomy to be able to send the clear message to the President that now is the right time to realize the establishment of the autonomous region as past and present leaders of the different provinces are now walking the talk.
According to him, autonomy advocates must concentrate their efforts in working out the passage by Congress of the autonomy bill and its signing into law by the President of the same before conducting an aggressive information and education campaign on the contents of the law to avoid possible confusion from the people.
Mangaoang emphasized that Cordillerans must take the enabling environment being presented by the administration to achieve autonomy so that the desired development of the region through the crafting of policies that are suitable to the current situation will be done with the primary goal of speeding up the development of the rural areas through desired programs, projects and activities feasible to the current situation in the region.
HB 3267 was authored by all the Cordillera congressmen to show their unity in advancing the cause of the Cordillera to become the second autonomous region in the country following the earlier creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that became the expanded ARMM before the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
