LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

MARCH L. FIANZA

Independence and autonomy

Two days after remembering the 62nd Filipino-American friendship on the 4th of July last Friday, and after celebrating the Philippines’ 110th independence day on June 9 instead of June 12, it is timely that our leaders talk about having another round of information drive on Cordillera autonomy.

Do our leaders in the forefront of the activity mean Cordillera independence? Or dependence? Initially, the country’s Independence Day rites was held on July 4. But Macapagal moved it to June 12, the date on which the Philippines declared independence from Spain in 1898. Filipino-American Friendship Day which coincides with the independence day of the United States on July 4 was created in its place.

Yet, the Philippines was not totally free as we became a territory of the USA from (June 12) 1898 to 1942, when Japanese forces occupied the country, again for a brief period after the war. The country gained “independence” only on July 4, 1946; the day established by then President Macapagal to commemorate the liberation of the country by joint Filipino and American forces from the Japanese occupation at the end of the second World War.

Many say it was just right that Macapagal declared it as Fil-Am Friendship Day because anyway there were so many strings attached to it – just like the autonomy granted to Muslim Mindanao.

Philippine history books tell us that despite the declaration of independence on July 4, 1946, the Americans retained control over several military camps in the country. American lawmakers designed a law that would practically make the Philippines one of its economic resources in the Pacific area.

Certainly, that is economic “independence” for a country that was still reeling from the effects of the last war. But many world historians described July 4, 1946 as the start of Pinoy “dependence” on America.

The country was in ruins and the Philippine treasury was empty. Criminality was at its peak because the people had nothing to eat. The USA which we Filipinos looked up to as a “big brother” took advantage of the situation to the extent of requiring that the Philippine Constitution grant Americans equal access to our minerals, forests and natural resources.

But even as we had no choice but to accept the terms of the US Congress two days before the declaration of independence in 1946, we were not yet doomed because many Americans saw their act as a betrayal to their promise to grant Filipinos “genuine independence."

We are in that situation again as Cordillera leaders discuss about attaining self-rule, the third time around. In 1987, a band of Communist leaders and autonomy advocates successfully lobbied for the inclusion of provisions in the Constitution guaranteeing the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanano and the Cordillera.

To make the story short, organic acts that could have turned the Cordillera or part of it into an autonomous region were defeated in plebiscites. The attempts to ratify the laws were held on January 30, 1990 and March 7, 1998; respectively.

Last year, the government reported that P15 million has been released to fuel a new information drive to determine the pulse of the Cordillera communities relative to the clamor for autonomy. Another half will be released this year. It means the drafting of a new organic law by congress and a third plebiscite to ratify the same is in the works.

We welcome the new move as we stress again and again that the essence of autonomy is for communities to become truly independent in choosing their path to political, economic and socio-cultural development.

But just like the “independence that was not” in the July 4, 1946 declaration, genuine autonomy does not seem to be happening, either here or in Mindanao . And there is no indication that things will be rosier for the next autonomy law.

At present, there are violations of our right to self-determination as manifested in the government’s unabated exploitation of the region’s resources. In Muslim Mindanao which is already “autonomous,” the present set up has not moved the region an inch better than when it was not autonomous. Outside interference in every aspect is still strong.

As if to counter-act such violations and to help convince more Cordillerans to vote for autonomy, pro-autonomy government officials are spreading information of a staggering P75 billion to subsidize the region’s operation in 10 years, once the new law is ratified. That is, P10billion annually for the first five years and P5billion
annually for the last five years.

That was exactly the character of the first autonomy campaign for the plebiscite in 1990 that did not work – the promise of billions of pesos. In the same campaign, Cordillera was not assured of the proposed budget subsidy. It is doubtful that we get a better chance this time when the Philippines and the world are in an economic crunch.

Congress records reveal that more than 40 laws have not been completely funded. The laws that were painstakingly discussed by our congressmen have yet to receive more than P200billion in order to be implemented. With that, the promise of P75 billion for the Cordillera, if ever autonomy wins, is bound to be broken.

It is not so often that the country encounters budget deficits especially with the EVAT and OFW dollar remittances. But even with the two supportive finances, the crisis that the country is in right now does not leave.

And assuming that the P75billion was forthcoming for the Cordillera, it would painfully choke us to swallow such a big dole-out, while other regions scrounge and suffer. Does autonomy mean independence or dependence?
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Weathered and battered since its birth in the summer of 1975, Baguio-Benguet Public Information and Civic Action Group (BB-PICAG) has grown into an experienced volunteer organization. We now have more than half a dozen disaster volunteer orgs that cover the city and nearby areas in Benguet, Cordillera and even the lowlands – some of them splinter groups from BB-PICAG.

One group even claims to be “on call,” or answers immediately to “911” emergencies. However, its attempts to rival the experience and capability of the mother organization always failed. Maybe the group defied the saying “action speaks louder than words.” In fact, some of the disaster volunteer groups opt to prioritize publicity more than action, to the extent that unverified info regarding an on-going catastrophe is
announced in public. Wrong information must be stopped from being aired in public.

That was what I was driving at.