SenTrillanes backs Cordillera thrust: Autonomy pressed in 27th CAR founding anniversary

BANGUED, Abra -- Top Cordillera officials pushed for regional autonomy as Cordillera Month kicked off here Tuesday even as President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III declared July 15 a special non-working holiday in the Cordillera Administrative Region in commemoration of its 27th founding anniversary.

Proclamation No. 795 signed by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr. by authority of President Aquino stated that regular classes and work in private and government sectors in Abra, Apayao, Baguio City, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province be suspended on the day so Cordillerans could celebrate the founding anniversary of the region.

This, as Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said he is supporting Cordillera autonomy hoping a third attempt will be successful.

Speaking at the 27th Cordillera Day celebration last Tuesday, Trillanes urged national and local government officials to focus on benefits autonomy will bring to Cordillera and its people.

“The officials should strive to unite and show the people that they are one in the goal to make the region autonomous. They should show how important it is to the region and what benefits will be derived by becoming autonomous,” Trillanes said.

Apart from exemplifying unity among the region’s six provinces and two cities, the senator said there is a constitutional provision which provides there shall be two autonomous regions -- one for Mindanao and the other for Cordillera.

“Based on my initial study and consultation, autonomy would benefit the people in terms of resources and economic progress. I give my support to the autonomy,” Trillanes said.

The Cordillera Administrative Region was established during the term of former President Corazon C. Aquino, mother of the incumbent President in 1987 when she was exercising both executive and legislative powers under the former revolutionary government.

“It is but fitting and proper that the people of CAR be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,” Ochoa said.

This, as Milagros Rimando, regional director of the Cordillera office of the National Economic Development Authority and vice chairperson of the Regional Development Council, said the “unity gong” went back to Abra on Tuesday after it was taken to all Cordillera provinces as a symbol of aspiration for regional autonomy. 

“The gong is commonly used by the different tribes in the CAR which is usually used in celebrations and rituals that is why it is now used to symbolize the unity of the Cordillerans towards the common goal of achieving autonomy in the future,” she said.

The theme of this year’s 27th CAR founding anniversary was “Boosting the economic competitiveness of the Cordillera for ASEAN 2015.”

The creation of the CAR was an offshoot of the historic “sipat” or peace agreement signed between former President Aquino and the late Catholic priest turned rebel leader ConradoBalweg of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) at the Mount Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province on Sept. 13, 1986.

Section 15 to 21, Article X of the Philippine Constitution declares the establishment of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera in recognition of the inability of the government to spur the economic growth of the two regions  being left behind in terms of growth.

President Aquino then issued Executive Order No. 220 on July 15, 1987 creating the CAR composed of the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province and Baguio City from Region I and the provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao from Region II. The CAR was aimed at administering the affairs of government in the region, to help accelerate the socio-economic growth of the concerned local governments and to prepare the region for autonomy.