Cordillera autonomy attempt 3

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- Exactly on the eve of Edsa One, I was sipping hot Benguet coffee in the house of a cousin in Ambangeg, Bokod; ready to take-off on a climb to Mt. Pulag. Back in Baguio, some friends were preparing to ride a bus to Manila to meet the new government of President Cory.

And while there was chaos and confusion as the country was on the edge of a transformation, two friends and I were walking away easy on top of the world at Mt. Pulag. All that we wanted then was peace.

A year later, a new Philippine Constitution was signed with a provision under Section 15 that provided for the “creation of an autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera.” 

For the sake of the youth who were toddlers or were born after Edsa One, I included here certain events that led to the clamor for regional independence.

In the late 70s, there were already attempts by the governors in the Cordillera to request then President Marcos to form a separate region for the old Mountain Province. The request was not granted. Instead, President Marcos divided the country into 13 regions for better administration and planning by issuing Presidential Order No. 01. 

The old mountain region that was composed then of Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao and the City of Baguio was not formed into a region; instead, they were placed under Region 02 (Cagayan Valley) and Region 01 (Ilocos Region).

Undeniably, our tribal ancestors were self-governing and autonomous in terms of settling land dispute, defense and invasion of homeland boundaries by other tribes, protection of hunting and forest areas, farmlands, pasture lands and other properties, production of food and development of natural resources.

They fought against the Chico Dam project and opposed the Cellophil project of the government that had started logging more than 150,000 hectares of Pine forests within the watersheds of Northern Luzon, particularly affecting indigenous tribes in Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.

In 1995, I was introduced to Mario Pugong aka “Ka Elias” of Hungduan, Ifugao. The erstwhile NPA cadre had then joined the mainstream by getting voted upon and converting himself into a barangay kapitan.

I found out that during his time with the movement in the 70s, Ka Elias had a proposal to the Communist Party of the Philippines Central Command to create the Federation of Tribes for Liberation (FITL).

Knowing that the tribes in the Cordilleras had a culture and terrain different from the lowlands and therefore should be treated somewhat differently, these were reasons for becoming an autonomous region.

But just like the Cordillera egat, baboy damo, ugsa and Mt. Pulag motit that continue to be extinct, the proposal of Kumander Pugong was forgotten. The communists had other hidden interests.

In 1986, the Lumbaya Company under SVD priest Conrado Balweg, aka Ka Ambo, broke away from the CPP/NPA because of ideological differences and heeded the call of President Cory for peace and reconciliation. The Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) was then formed to push for Cordillera self-governance.

Fast forward to 1987, peace talks with the government of Cory continued which resulted to the signing of Executive Order No. 220 on July 15, 1987 pending the establishment of an autonomous region. It created the Cordillera Administrative Region consisting of the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and the City of Baguio.

This established regional offices of the national line agencies that employed thousands of Igorots as well as non-Igorots. Many were lodged in high positions such as regional directors, which was difficult for an Igorot to attain when the Cordillera provinces were under Region 01 or Region 02.

Also, take note that provincial concerns vary. But these are important to the voters. Take for example the dialogue that we hear from almost all officials who became governor or congressman of Benguet.

They have said in many fora that the proponents of regional autonomy should always consider the reality that Benguet has been for the “longest time the financial backbone of the whole region and Manila for having produced electricity, gold, copper, silver, timber for the mines, and employment” without receiving just and equitable returns from the national government.

In a regional autonomy set-up, can the provinces and Baguio give their equitable share in terms of resources to the regional government, or will they choose to have their resources untapped and not share the region?  

What followed is history. Two plebiscites for regional autonomy failed for several reasons. According to those who conducted the activities, there was lack of information and that there was more misinformation; campaign time was short; people were not ready to vote for autonomy and people who went to the precincts voted “no” to what they did not understand.

The second plebiscite in 1998 failed too. The reasons were the same: short campaign period from Feb. 5 to March 5, 1998; that copies of the organic act were distributed only in the first two weeks of February; plebiscite funds were delayed; delayed release of information and education fund; and, that IEC funds were given to Governors and the City Mayor.

The other reasons for the failure were: the very active “no” campaign by church groups; and the unclear provisions of the organic act regarding the tenure of government employees.

There were other reasons for the failure of the plebiscites that were not reported. One was that the removal of incumbent and duly elected officials in the Cordillera from the governor down to the last councilor contributed to the failure of the two autonomy plebiscites.

During the first autonomy campaign, many of those duly elected Cordillera officials campaigned against the organic act, in retaliation to what they got when Cory sat in Malacanang.

In addition, the people saw that the Cordillera bodies were fighting over government funds and lobbying for positions. They saw that the Cordillera bodies were unable to bring them forward because of personal interests.

Some of the Cordillera bodies that were recognized by Cory became enemies of the people as they became “treasure hunters” and protectors of professional squatters in Baguio and Benguet, if not the land grabbers themselves.

In fact, as we write, remnants of that body are in to professional squatting on public and private lands. Such activities that are not easy to stop by authorities are happening now along the boundaries of Baguio, La Trinidad, Tuba and Itogon.

There is also the suspicion that some people involved in the campaign are pretending to be moving for autonomy but deep inside they want autonomy to fail again in order to sustain their existence.

Then there is the thinking that voting for a third organic law will divide the region and that it is better to hold on to the status quo which has effectively brought together the provinces into one region again.

They believe the possibility that if three provinces will approve of the organic law in a plebiscite, it will crack the region’s present united set up. In order to fight this eventuality, there are proposals to campaign under a strategy of “all for one or none at all.”

The better choice then was to vote for autonomy because there was the threat being dangled by previous campaigners that those who will not vote for the organic law will go back to region I or region II, although that had no basis in law.

And there was the choice to remain under the present CAR set-up than go back to the set-up before the Cory peace talks, or become a regular region before moving to regional autonomy.

Meanwhile, I think people will go for regional autonomy if they see that what they want is what really appears in the organic law. After 32 years of discussing, we are on our third attempt. Will the mistakes in the past be repeated?