Cordillera autonomy uncertain, says survey

BAGUIO CITY – Almost half of Cordillerans are still undecided on whether the region should pursue autonomy, a government-initiated survey found out.

Regional officials are now planning how the constitutional mandate would be pursued as the survey bared only one third of regional constituents are for autonomy.

Two Organic Acts for regional autonomy have not been ratified in plebiscites.

A recent survey by the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera found that almost half (48.8 percent) of Cordillerans cannot decide which to favor.

Regional officials held a meeting here at the City Lite Hotel Thursday on “prospects for autonomy” but had differing points of view on how the process should be done.

Most Cordillera solons are pushing for House Bill 5595 or the autonomy bill pending in Congress, while two of the closest political allies of the Aquino administration, especially Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan, are still taken aback into approving the measure while citing its practical legislative mill hitches and still lack of grassroots consultations.

Ifugao Rep. TeodoroBaguilat, Jr. meanwhile, still believes more exhaustive consultations should be conducted especially on villagers who will benefit from an autonomous region.

Both Cosalan and Baguilat are members of the Liberal Party and close to the president who has not regarded the autonomy bill as among the over-100 priority bills. 

According to the survey results, of the 5,083 respondents all over the region,  48.8 percent remain undecided, 33.9 percent said yes to autonomy and 17.5 percent said no.

However, RDC Co-chairman and one of the prime movers of autonomy Virgilio Bautista sees the opportunity in the 48.8 percent undecided Cordillerans as “a sizable potential vote to sway”.

The results show an improvement from the 2007 perception where those undecided have decreased.

Bautista said the 48.8 percent undecided votes mean there is still much work to do as far as information education campaign is concerned.

This as the survey also bared that 76.8 percent of the respondents are unaware of House Bill 5595, now pending with the Committee on Appropriations in the House of Representatives while a meager 23.2 percent know the measure.

Meanwhile, less than half (42.9 percent) of the 23 percent who are aware of the autonomy bill, know about its content. More than half (57.1 percent) are unaware of what the measure contains.

With such, much is to be done in the campaign to reach out to the large portions of Cordillerans who are still unaware of the autonomy bill and to educate the wide majority about the new bid for autonomy, said Bautista.

This comes after some sectors pushed for a “bottom-up” approach in the consultations amid traditional approaches by autonomy movers in the government sector. The consultations, in the form of “half-day meetings,” were held in provincial capitals wit the government shelling out sums of money to supposed “media consultants.” The Commission on Audit reportedly found the practice irregular.

In addition, the study which was commissioned by the RDC to students from the various state universities and colleges in the region showed that the majority of respondents in provinces of Apayao, Ifugao and Kalinga said yes while majority of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province and Baguio City respondents voted no and undecided.

The survey, conducted from July to September this year, covered 144 barangays in the all the towns and cities in the highlands.