BANGUED, Abra – The unified Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) underscored it is not inclined to sanction the moves by some splinter factions and other interest groups and individuals to resort to violence once the national government will not act on their proposal to revive the disbanded Cordillera bodies that could be used to advance their own personal and political interests only.
CPLA chairman and Vice Governor Ronald Balao-as emphasized that the unified group continues to adhere to the policy embraced by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera on autonomy towards federalism to be able to advance the greater interests of Cordillerans and to avoid the matter being overtaken by events in the future.
“The planned rally to be done by some interest groups and individuals in Metro Manila to clamor for the revival of the Cordillera bodies is not sanctioned by the unified CPLA leadership. Further, the planned revolt against the government being used to blackmail the government is also not sanctioned by our group because it was never our intention to disturb the gains of peace in our region. We will continue to clamor for autonomy in a peaceful and orderly manner because we trust in the previous commitment made by President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the pending autonomy bill as urgent,” Balao-as stressed.
The Abra official pointed out that it is unfortunate that there are some factions in the group who lost during the unification process who are now the ones ruining the image of the organization by making false representations with concerned government agencies primarily because they want their own personal and political interests to be advance.
According to him, concerned officials of government agencies should not deal with people representing themselves as CPLA officials and members without validating their identities with the unified group to avoid the group from being dragged into controversial issues that are even not known to them, thus, the need for stronger collaboration with the national and local governments for them to be appraised on the issues confronting the CPLA, especially the issues that resulted to the eventual expulsion of some earing officers and members that paved the way for the unification process.
The CPLA official emphasized that they will continue to painstakingly deal with the concerned government agencies as a unified group without deviating from the RDC-CAR sanctioned autonomy towards federalism because they believe in the realization of autonomy as a unifying factor among Cordellerans once the shift in federal form of government will be implemented in the next several years.
He claimed that the unified CPLA has undergone a tedious process to reform its ranks over the past several months wherein numerous officers and members had been expelled due to alleged bad records while those who lost during the unification process decided to create their own group and make false representations with the government which is act5ually not a good virtue of Cordillerans, thus, people should not trust the so-called individuals claiming to be the ones that will be recognized by the government by showing purported documents that have doubtful authenticity.
By HENT
