HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina P. Dizon
Regional autonomy is doing, not academic

Regional autonomy makes me think of Macliing Dulag, the slain, militant Kalinga chieftain who resisted government troopers who tried to ram Chico Dam in his hometown in Bugnay, Kalinga in the 1970s.

Dulag’s act of defiance is a concrete living example of what autonomy means -- a self-determining act of asserting one’s rights for public interest. A principled act to stand up to what one believes in, despite whatever rules there are. He made his rules and the rule is his life. Despite whatever law or policy there was, his land should not be touched by the government because land is his life.

Yet, he was law abiding by being true to what the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the right to life. The odds were against him, a threatening military force who bulldozes their way in his own backyard and a government policy dictated by the late President Marcos, to build the Chico River Basin Development Project. Some people were scared, some apathetic, some skeptic.

Yet, with his followers and others who supported him including international friends, Dulag stuck to his scruples and resisted the dam which led to the people of Kalinga and Mountain Province sourcing their food from their precious lands till now. What did he gain in the process?

For sure, he was not promised a Mercedes Benzor a palace, or a trip to the Alps or a load of money from anybody who wanted him to resist. He had a load of a living example he passed on to people of Kalinga and the neighboring provinces of the Kordillera on what is regional autonomy.

Now, we are not saying, you also do ala-Macliing Dulag and be a chieftain, resist the army, and die a hero. In your own backyard, you could have noticed injustice going on like a fishy infrastructure being built which was not built according to budget, or excessive transportation rates, lack of school buildings and teachers, an abusive authority, or a
good for nothing elected official who is not doing his job.

What are you doing to check the situation? I would like to mention Juniper Dominguez who despite threats to his life, consistently attacked engineer Mariano Alquiza, former Cordillera Dept. of Public Works and Highways director, of corruption on SONA projects along the Halsema Highway, where, through the press and the courts, contributed to the eventual replacement of Alquiza.

Now, Natonin native and Bontoc-bred engineer Roy Manao is the Cordillera DPWH Director. The credit goes to other supporters and silent movers who wanted to rid the regional DPWH of corruption. Meantime, most of the public particularly from Mountain Province who regularly cross the Halsema Highway are silent on the sidelights and either pessimistic, apathetic, skeptical, or just too busy with their own lives to care as to what Juniper is raving about.

I also appreciate the people of Guinaang, Bontoc who resisted the excessive transportation rates of their own jeepney drivers a year ago. So to drive home their point, they walked the one hour-ride Bontoc-Guinaang route to spite the drivers that they can walk anyway, and that drivers will not have any money for the day.

And so further on, the Guinaang people wrote CAR-DOT and LTFRB asking them to clear the issue and tell the drivers to lower the rates as diesel has already gone down from P60 to 40 per liter. The people got what they wanted and the jeepney drivers lowered the fare. Juniper and the Guinaang people are but some of the few autonomous individuals who stand up, amidst threats, for what they believe in to try and change ugly situations for a better and fairer place to live in.

This encouragement and admiration include other individuals who, as a group actively petition abusive authorities. Meantime, other neighboring people in Sagada for example, grumble and mumble about excessive fare rates yet did not do what the Guinaang people did. I don’t know if the rate is still P45, and not lower than that, which is supposed to be 27.00 for the 18 kilometer Bontoc-Sagada road, as what it should be according to LTFRB computation. Most people do grumble and mumble about what is wrong.

What am I saying? What had the people done so far in making themselves self-determining and actually exercise what regional autonomy means in their very own places? We have laws which support self- determining rights like freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom to assemble, the right to recall officials as provided for in the constitution. Yet, I never heard of a politician who was recalled due to the action of people against one who is corrupt and abusive or good for nothing opisyal who closes his mouth and rarely forwards a resolution during the entire Sangguniang sessions and gets his monthly salary anyway.

Also, the Local Govt Code RA 7160 also provides for Special Bodies and NGOs to be represented in deciding bodies in Development Councils in government. Yet, very few NGOS had themselves accredited in government to be part of local governance. In the provincial LGU of Mt Province for one, there are only six accredited NGOs last year. And the rest?

Either the NGOS are busy with their own interests or fed up with the corruption and inefficiency of government. Even the government is not fully facilitating local governance involving the people. Barangay assemblies are not that observed in most barangays, as noted in a consultation on local governance conducted last year. Ask yourself if you know or were part of a barangay consultation/assembly a year ago or just recently. The law says there should be at least two barangay assemblies in a year.

What more, municipal Sangguniang sessions are nearly closed to the public by the non conduct of public hearings on issues which vitally affect them? The people also care less. What the heck. Life goes on. While this is the case, the drive for regional autonomy is just around the corner. Where people are not that enthusiastic and involve
themselves in political activities in their own backyards, what does regional autonomy mean to their lives? Seems to be only a concoction of dreams and ideals of a few ideologues which got modified by government technocrats and now finding itself offered to the people whether to accept or not.

So the government now through the Regional Development Council conducts these so-called IECs to inform the people about regional autonomy because as the survey says, 40% don’t know what autonomy is already about. Can regional autonomy be achieved in conducting IECs? How much of IECs are needed by the way? Seemingly, autonomy is seen as an academic problem where people have to know the definition of homogenous and heterogenous.

Yet, a major factor is experiential. Regional autonomy needs to be lived and people and government have to do it, breathe it in order to know about it, and do it more. Otherwise, it would just be like any other electoral exercise where people cast their votes whether to write Juan or Jose in the ballot. Either the people vote for Juan in exchange for a kilo of rice, vote anyway, or boycott. After the elections, what are the people doing to involve themselves in the promises of Juan the Politiko?

In most cases, people don’t care less and let Juan the Politiko do his thing while Juan dela Cruz will also do his thing also: work, feed his children, sleep, wake up the next day, work again and the cycle goes on until the next election comes again with Politiko’s boring and repeated promises for a better future. So again, what do we expect for this quest for regional autonomy?

Where people are not even autonomous to exercise their basic constitutional rights. Where people are apathetic to political life and get busy with their own economic lives because Maria needs 25,000 for her tuition fees in college and the government anyway can’t help in her nursing course fees. Where the youth who are the hope of the Fatherland, are busy playing Counterstrike, getting in Friendster, or chatting in the Internet. Many adults are busy with their own lives in order to feed a family or feed themselves.

Many people leave for HK or UK or EU or USA because there are not enough decent paying jobs in this country swamped with a dearth of employment. People are alienated from government as if the government has nothing much to do with their own lives. Yet people mumble when there is a problem on fare increase, high tuition fees or low pay. But it is only until there. Grumble. We need more Dulag Maclii-ings, Junipers and Guinaang people.