BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan lauded the commitment made by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III to facilitate the deliberations of Senate Bill (SB) No. 1678 or the counterpart bill in the upper chamber seeking the establishment of the Autonomous Region in the Cordillera (ARC).
Domogan, who chairs the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RPOC) and the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), pointed the commitment of support to the Cordillera autonomy bill publicly made by Senate President Pimentel is a giant step towards the realization of the long overdue clamor for self-governance which had been going on over the past three decades.
“We are grateful to Senate President Pimentel and the other senators who have earlier made their own commitments to support the region’s renewed quest for regional autonomy because they will surely help in advancing the bill once calendared by the Senate committee on local government chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara for deliberations,” Domogan stressed.
He explained Pimentel’s pronouncement that the senators were able to unravel best practices and policies enshrined in the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which could also be incorporated in the proposed Cordillera autonomy bill if applicable in the region is an indication that he fully understands the position of the Cordillera in terms of the establishment of the autonomous region before the realization of the shift in the form of government from the present unitary to federal form.
According to him, Senate President Pimentel understands the predicament of the Cordillera in aggressively advocating for autonomy towards federalism because it will allow the region to have greater control of its resources with lesser restraint from outside forces, thus, the autonomous region can chart its own development thrust without being beholdened to prevailing national policies which are actually not applicable to the current situation in the region.
The Senate President vowed to get in touch with Senator Angara once he will go back to Manila for him to calendar the Senate version of the proposed Cordillera autonomy bill for furthe4r deliberation side by side with the BBL so that proven best practices in both measures could be incorporated to the final version of the laws if the same will be applicable in the concerned regions.
He claimed the advantage of the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao in fighting for the establishment of autonomous regions in their areas of jurisdiction is the fact that it has been explicitly provided in the 1987 Constitution to obviously correct whatever historical injustices that were committed by the national government to the two regions in terms of opportunity for development.
Domogan argued granting autonomy to the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao is the only available and justifiable means by which the national government can provide increased allocations for the autonomous regions for the said areas to have a chance to catch up with the pace of development in other areas around the country.
Autonomy advocates insist that the putting in place of the autonomous region will help the people move out from the shackles of poverty because of the pririties that will be given to projects beneficial to the people in the remote villages regionwide.
By Dexter A. See
