THE MOUNTAINEER

Cordillera dilemna: Autonomy or regular region?
Edison L. Baddal

July 15 is yearly commemorated as Cordillera Day and for this year it was the 20th foundation day of the Cordillera Administrative Region.. On this historic date, Cordillera provinces were yanked out from Regions I and II and were made to comprise the CAR two decades ago. Executive Order 220 issued during the Aquino Regime formed the legal basis for the political and territorial aggrupation.

The upshot of a tradition-inspired sipat agreement between the then fledgling Aquino Regime and erstwhile Cordillera People’s Liberation Army leader Conrado Balweg, this political structure was established to pave the way for the eventual formation of the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

The latter was ensured and guaranteed under Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution. With the resounding ratification of the 1987 Philippine Constitution on Feb. 2, 1987 (which dislodged the much-hated 1973 Marcos Constitution), autonomy for the provinces constituting the Cordillera Administrative Region became sort of a perquisite for the native Cordillerans.

The constitutional assurance of an autonomous Cordillera region (juxtaposed with the establishment of an Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao) then led to the installation of appropriate political bodies.

These were intended primarily to formulate measures, policies, relevant rules as well as effective mechanisms that will operationalize it. These bodies like the Cordillera Executive Board, Cordillera Regional Assembly and Cordillera Bodong Association. They were also envisioned to work hand in hand for Cordillera autonomy.

Nevertheless, the efforts of the aforementioned bodies dismally flopped when autonomy was rejected in two plebiscites held at large in the entire Cordillera in 1990 and in 1998. Ifugao alone voted for autonomy in the 1990 autonomy plebiscite but the Supreme Court ruled that one province could not legally constitute an autonomous region.

In the 1998 autonomy plebiscite, autonomy was soundly rejected in all six provinces and Baguio . In the second plebiscite, the highest votes were registered in Abra and in Baguio City which was expected as these are populated mostly by lowlanders.

With the twin setbacks, the temporary set-up of the CAR was threatened. In fact, there was even a plan some years back to revert the CAR provinces and the city of Baguio to their mother regions.

Thanks to vigorous lobbying, moves of high officials whose who were prejudiced against the Cordilleras were neutralized. The sinister plan was shelved for the meantime though the threat continues to seethe and any anti-Cordillera bigwig can always waken up the imprudent proposal.

As things stand on the status of the CAR is concerned, it is in an awkward situation. Its status is a paradox as it is purportedly a region yet an administrative one. For political expediency it has no regular personality. Therefore, neither an autonomous region nor a regular region, its status hangs in limbo. Its fate virtually hangs in the balance. This is the consequence of the sound rejection of autonomy in past plebiscites and thus the quest for an Cordillera Autonomous Region reverted to square one.

Any attempt at this time for a third plebiscite might be an exercise in futility as can be gleaned from the collective sentiments of the voters in the aforesaid plebiscites. To illustrate the uncertain status of the CAR, it is like a car with its front wheels hanging loosely from a road edge with the rear wheels restrained by slabs of stone to prevent it from hurtling down a ledge.

Corollary thereto, the pestering question that begs to be asked with regards to the uncertain status of the CAR is this: What now CAR – autonomy or regular region?
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Fact is, those who fervently campaigned for autonomy on both occasions were traditional politicians whose reputations and probity were questionable. The Cordillera electorate then, except in some areas, were cynical of the motives of the politicians. They were downhearted and distressed at the mumbo-jumbo of the politicians who strongly pushed for Cordillera autonomy.

Particularly disheartening was the manner in which they kept pounding in their sorties the supposed billions of pesos that will be given by the national government in the event that the Cordillera Autonomous Region materializes.

The passion displayed by the latter during the campaigns for autonomy only buttressed the collective perception of the electorate that they were only eyeing the dangled largesse to line and bulge their pockets. The largesse as the main point of the campaigns galvanized the people’s opposition to autonomy as there was the common fear of the harpies getting enriched further in the process.

The involvement of the politicians in the campaign for autonomy during the two plebiscites vitiated the moral ground of the campaign. Also, they were skeptical if the national government could really provide the promised billions for the region once it becomes autonomous as the ARMM experience proved otherwise.
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Relatively, there was no doubt the aggrupation of the Cordillera ethnic provinces into an administrative region was nothing short of an achievement by the Aquino regime. For aside from ethnic similarities, it has been the age-old hue and cry of the Cordillerans to be grouped together into one region after they were arbitrarily clustered with lowland provinces during the Marcos dictatorship.

This collective aspiration was borne out of the fact that Cordillerans have been generally treated with disdain, demeaned, harshly discriminated and looked down as second class citizens by lowland Filipinos when CAR provinces were spread out to Regions I and II.

This discrimination almost bordered even on bigotry in some areas. In fact, in regional offices where some Igorots were lucky enough to be employed, promotion was hard to come by as lowlanders were always preferred over ethnic Cordillerans as the latter had no stalwart kingpin to back them up. Furthermore, among all Igorots who were employed in regional line agencies in La Union before, only one was lucky to be promoted as head of office.
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The installation of CAR and the subsequent set-up of regional offices enabled a plethora of talented and gifted Igorots to became regional directors, division and section chiefs in different regional field offices. This was a far cry when CAR provinces were clustered with lowland provinces.

Hence, it was with the formation of CAR that native talents were maximized and sharpened which could have been impossible had the CAR provinces remained with their respective mother regions.

With the foregoing adverse scenario, the planned reversion of CAR provinces to those regions where they formerly belonged is definitely out of the question. Besides, as past experience showed, the BIBAK (Cordillera) provinces were stalled in their development efforts as well as initiatives in almost all aspects when they were still under their respective mother regions.

As Cordillerans, they were then treated as second class citizens. So too were development concerns for the BIBAK provinces which were virtually relegated to the background as they were often least prioritized in the allocation of funds. The lowland provinces always got the lion’s share in funds from the national government.

The obvious reason being that those charged with allocating development funds were lowlanders who were political minions of the powers-that-be who were themselves lowlanders. Having been subjected then to various sorts of condescending and pejorative ways of the lowlanders towards highlanders (Igorots), it is not probable now that Cordillera provinces would opt to go back to their mother provinces.
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With EO 220 as the only legal basis propping up the CAR, it is high time our solons mull the possible future of the CAR as a region. The legal ground having been rendered flimsy with the rejection of autonomy on two counts, this merits serious attention on their part.

They could not regard this cavalierly as it is the fate not only of the region that is at stake but that of all the native Cordillerans. The harrowing pain of discrimination under the patronage of lowlanders in the mother regions should be eschewed at all cost.

One obnoxious face of discrimination was that a native highlander could not freely enter nor be openly welcome in a lowlander’s home in the past. This was because there was always the tinge of inferiority accorded to the former which was the reverse when a lowlander entered a highlander’s home.

In the latter case, the former was feted like a special guest with all the amenities proffered. This could be the reason why local officials in the highland municipalities of Abra maintained rented rooms in Bangued. They railed against this because when lowland officials visited the highlands, they were generally treated and accommodated well.

At this juncture then, with autonomy being a no go having undergone two rejections, the only recourse is to have the CAR converted into a regular region. This is the most coherent option now rather than reversion of the LGUs of CAR to their mother regions. It’s either a regular region anytime for CAR or nothing. I do hope that other native Cordillerans share this sentiment.