BAGUIO CITY – Malacanang recently declared Tuesday, July 15, 2025 as a special non-working day in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for the celebration of the region’s 38th founding anniversary.
Proclamation No. 939 signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin by authority of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. states that it is but fitting and proper that the people of the Cordillera be given full opportunity to actively participate in the important occasion and enjoy the celebration of the region’s founding anniversary.
The region’s 38th founding anniversary will kick off in Baguio City with an opening program on July 1, 2025 at the Baguio Convention Center where the city will serve as the host local government in partnership with the infrastructure committee of the Regional Development Council (RDC).
The theme of this year’s CAR founding anniversary celebration is ‘Securing the Future of a Unified Cordillera.’
The founding anniversary main program will be held on July 15, 2025 at the Baguio Convention Center where various national officials are being eyed to serve as guest of honor and speaker, aside from Cordillera congressional district representatives, governors and mayors who will be leading their respective delegations in attending the annual event.
Provincial delegations will also be present during the founding anniversary program to drumbeat the region’s quest for the establishment of the long overdue autonomous region pursuant to the mandate of the 1987 Constitution.
CAR was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 220 which was issued by the late President Corazon C. Aquino on July 15, 1987 when she was exercising both executive and legislative powers under the then revolutionary government.
The order brought together the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province and Baguio City from Region I or the Ilocos Region and the provinces of Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao from Region II or the Cagayan Valley to form the special temporary administrative region.
Under the said order, the CAR was tasked to perform their major functions which is to administer the affairs of the government, accelerate the socio-economic development of the region and more importantly, prepare the region for autonomy.
In 2006, the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera adopted autonomy as its overarching agenda to contribute in accelerating the socio-economic development of the whole region as autonomy advocates believe that achieving an autonomous status will help move the people out of the shackles of poverty.
Further, the autonomous region will surely have greater control of its resources with lesser restraint from outside parties that will ensure that development efforts will be aligned with the prevailing conditions unlike in the present set up where all policies, programs, projects and activities emanate from the central government even if the same is not applicable in the Cordillera.
The Constitution mandates the establishment of autonomous regions in the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao which had been left behind in terms of development over the past centuries. By Dexter A. See
