‘If clamor will come from people’: Palace backs quest for Cordillera autonomy

BAGUIO CITY – Malacanang will support Cordillera autonomy provided that the clamor for self-governance will emanate from the people of the region, President Aquino III said here during his recent visit.

Considering that the attempts to achieve autonomous status have been overwhelmingly rejected by the people twice during previous plebiscites scheduled for the purpose, the Chief Executive cited there is a need for autonomy advocates to consolidate their efforts and convince people to clamor for self-governance pursuant to the existing constitutional provision so that it will merit support not only from Malacanang but also from Congress of the Philippines who will pass the desired autonomous law.

The president cited it will be awkward for Malacanang to be pushing for the crafting of an autonomous region when the people are not yet ready for the achievement of self-rule, thus, the need for the continuous conduct of appropriate information education campaign to give the people sufficient knowledge on the benefits of gaining autonomous status for them to understand what to do when a plebiscite will be scheduled for the ratification of a third Organic Act for the region.

The President’s statement came while the Third Autonomy Act Drafting Committee is in the verge of finalizing the draft of the third autonomy law which will be submitted to the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera for ratification before being submitted to the Cordillera congressmen who will in turn sponsor the passage of the same into law.

According to the President, consultations in the grassroots level must continue with if the draft of the proposed Organic Act was already submitted to the RDC-CA since amendments on the bill can still be done in the committee levels of both the House of Representatives and the Senate before the same will be officially passed into law.

Autonomy advocates are now intensifying their efforts to inform and educate the people on the advantages and disadvantages of achieving an autonomous status so that they will be fully aware of the sensitive issue once it will be submitted to them for ratification during a plebiscite.

Section 15-21 Article X of the 1987 Constitution mandates the establishment of autonomous regions in the Cordillera and Mindanao in recognition of the vital role of indigenous peoples in nation-building since the two regions are dominated by indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities.

However, Cordillerans overwhelmingly rejected the two autonomy laws submitted to them for ratification during separate plebiscites primarily because they were not properly informed on the advantages of achieving self-governance which is now being slowly downloaded to the grassroots level by autonomy advocates who claimed self-rule will be beneficial to the region since it would mean greater control of the region’s resources and more powers to govern the same with lesser restraint from outside forces.