Leaders back Cordillera autonomy with more gab

BAGUIO CITY – Leaders from local governments and private sectors in the Cordillera committed their support for the renewed pursuit of regional autonomy provided more consultations must be done to update people on self-governance.

During the meeting of the Third Autonomy Drafting Committee held here Wednesday afternoon, local officials and representatives from Abra, Benguet, Apayao, Kalinga and Ifugao claimed they are supportive of the snowballing clamor for autonomy but there is still a need to conduct more consultations in their respective places in order to gather key concerns that must be addressed in the autonomy law which will be filed in Congress by the year 2010.

Former Bontoc Mayor Franklin Oddsey, who chairs the provincial management task force on autonomy of Mountain Province, said significant concerns which were gathered in the conduct of consultations in the ten towns of the province include the benefits to be derived by host communities from the utilization of the region’s resources, guaranteed development for the barangays through the proposed subsidy of the local governments, preservation of the province’s distinct culture among others.

Dr. Virgilio Bautista, co-chairperson of the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera, claimed government and private sectors in the city have been consulted over the past several months and that their stand in favor of autonomy is a reversal on the previous overwhelming opposition against the ratification of the two autonomy laws which were submitted to the Cordillerans for ratification on January 30, 1990 and March 8, 1998.

Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, chairman of the RDC-CAR’s drafting committee, said results of provincial and sectoral consultations must be submitted to the committee on or before March 31, 2011 so that the draft autonomy law will already be crafted.

He said the draft law will eventually be submitted to the provincial committees for scrutiny and evaluation prior to the conduct of consultations with cordilleran congressmen who will file the same law in Congress.

The RDC-CAR has made autonomy its overarching program in order to facilitate faster development in the countryside considering that the Cordillera has always been lagging behind the allocation of resources by the national government because of its limited population and land area which are the two major criteria for the distributions of the limited funds and resources.

Autonomy advocates claimed self-governance is the only way to give a break to the Cordillera to achieve greater development considering that the regional government will have greater control of its resources with lesser restraint from outside forces.

Because of the growing support to the renewed quest for autonomy, the RDC-CAR is inclined to continue the massive consultation and information and education campaign in the different localities in order to impress upon the people that autonomy is the best way to move out the people from the shackles of poverty through the implementation of more infrastructure projects that will translate to more economic activities in the far flung areas. – Dexter A. See