BAGUIO CITY – Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill (SB) 1232 seeking the establishment of the Autonomous Region in the Cordillera (ARC) that will serve as the counterpart bill of House Bill (HB) 5687 5that was previously filed by Cordillera congressmen in the House of Representatives.
Senator Zubiri was also the first senator that filed SB 1678 that served as the Senate counterpart bill for HB 5343 filed by all Cordillera congressmen that sought the creation of the ARC in the previous 17th Congress.
Last December 2, 2019, Kalinga Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang, Mountain Province Rep. Maximo Dalog, Jr., Ifugao Rep. Solomon Chungalao, Apayao Rep. Elias C. Bulut, Jr. and Abra Rep. Joseph Sto. Nino Bernos filed HB 5687 seeking the creation of the ARC after the same was delayed several times following the inputs from some of the proponents. Benguet Rep. Nestor Fongwan, Sr. did not sign the bill but he was said to be supportive of the region’s quest for autonomy.
Milagros Rimando, regional director of the Cordillera office of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-CAR) and vice chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) disclosed that almost 99 percent of the contents of the Senate version of the autonomy bill came from the House version that is why it will not be difficult for autonomy advocates to lobby for its immediate approval in both chambers of the 18th Congress.
Abra Gov. and RDC-CAR chairperson Joy Bernos challenged the authors of the bill to ensure the approval of the same in the House and in the Senate so that the long overdue clamor for self-governance by the region will be achieved right before the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte who has been a staunch supporter of autonomy and federalism.
The Abra governor made sure that all 27 mayors of Abra and provincial officials were present during the recently concluded Cordillera Multi-stakeholders gathering on autonomy, federalism and charter change that was spearheaded by the RDC-CAR and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) last Thursday.
For his part, Chungalao disclosed that among the salient provisions of the proposed autonomy bill include the supervision and control of the regional government over the region’s natural resources, thus, interested developers of the State’s resources should directly deal with the regional government.
Further, he added that the block grant to be granted by the national government to the regional government in the amount of P10 billion for the first 5 years of the autonomous region and another P5 billion annually for the succeeding 5 years will not be divided among the local governments but instead the same will be used to bankroll the income-generating projects of the local governments and the regional government to ensure that the region will be self-sufficient after the lapse of the subsidy period.
Mangaoang stated that another salient provision of the pending proposal is the reported increase in the number of assemblymen for the highly urbanized city and provinces from the previous 2 representatives to 4 representatives with 1 representative allotted for the component city of Tabuk which will allow greater representation of the concerns of the local governments in the regional government.
The 2-term Kalinga lawmaker rallied concerned sectors that have still proposals to further improve the provisions of the pending autonomy bill to submit the same to their congressmen for possible inclusion in the amendments that will be introduced to the specific provisions once the same will be subjected to committee and plenary debate in the House.
On the other hand, Dalog explained that another new provision that was introduced in the pending bill is that the Regional governor and Vice governor will be elected as one and at large while the assemblymen comprising the regional legislative assembly will be required to elect their Speaker who will be their titular head to avoid the usual clash between the Regional governor and vice governor, especially when they do not belong to the same political party.
PLLO Undersecretary Gerald Salapandan committed the appropriate assistance to be extended by their office in ensuring the smooth passage of the proposed Cordillera autonomy bill in both chambers of Congress because after the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the subsequent creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), President Rodrigo Duterte is inclined to pursue the realization of the region’s renewed quest for autonomy amidst previous pronouncement by some local officials that the Chief Executive is no longer supportive of the clamor for regional autonomy.
He urged concerned stakeholders to sustain the unity and teamwork that is now being forged to drumbeat the region’s quest for autonomy in the national level so that lawmakers will be convinced to immediately pass the measure and the Cordillera will achieve autonomous status before the President’s term ends on June 30, 2022.
By HENT
