Autonomy blues and persistence

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Amidst the blues, Mountain Province is bullish with its consultation drive on autonomy. The sub- committee for the drafting of the third organic act of Cordillera regional autonomy for the province chaired by Franklin Odsey has the remaining eastern towns to deal with this first week of December.

Earlier consultations had already been done in the towns of Botnoc, Besao, Sadanga, Bauko, Sabangan, Sagada and Besao. One major issue was about control of natural resources vis a vis national laws.

Mountain Province with its 90 percent forest cover is rich with trees and timber. Yet full control by the people of the very trees which they nurture is barred by Presidential Decree 705 providing restrictions on logging.

Its underground treasures are also substantial with mineral resources including gold and copper. Such is now the subject of mining applications from big mining corporations for quite some time, one of which is Cordillera Exploration Inc, a subsidiary of Anglo Saxon Mining Company based in the US. Control of natural resources vis a vis benefit sharing is also one big issue raised in all municipality consultations.

Talk about SMART and GLOBE telecommunications perched in mountain peaks and you know what the people mean. Are they deriving benefits from these multi-million peso earning companies? What are recommendations to these inconsistencies?

Exception to the rule was forwarded by Odsey. How positive will be with our national legislators is another. As it is, the overarching Regalian doctrine on lands being owned by the State come as a constitutional question on natural resources.

While people here seek questions on control of their natural wealth, the consultation results say people are hungry for information on what autonomy is all about. Otherwise, it would be a dead end to autonomy if people are not asking. Other questions raised include: What assurance is there that with regional autonomy, the Cordillera would not be like “Ampatuan Country”? What assurance is there that corruption will not happen? What assurance is there that nepotism will not be practiced in employment ?

Questions are a good sign that people are curious and want to know answers which baffle them. Following municipal wide consultations, almost all municipalities want sectoral and barangay consultations done. This means the Regional Development Council should be providing more budget from the P15 million autonomy budget to provincial wide consultations instead of just a measly P500,000 each per province.

As noted, the people want straight and direct answers whether these are legal provisions or experiences on autonomy by other states. This call for autonomy is neither an academic exercise nor a discussion of philosophical theories.

This, as those moving around to conduct consultations have an initial big responsibility to answer issues while noting recommendations that people forward in the light of hesitancies and lingering questions. I guess the rest of information will follow once the proposed organic act is done and ratification comes in.

Meantime, this call for regional autonomy by the RDC is struggling as it had been when it was earlier called for by the Cordillera People’s Alliance in the early ‘80s. Still opposed by the CPA, their basic framework for regional autonomy persists.

Talk about national laws working against control of natural resources and you know what it means. PD 705 provides lands 18 degrees in slope and over are considered alienable and disposable. With people of the Cordillera living on slopes beyond 18 degrees in slope is already one big question on how autonomy can answer control to natural resources.

Or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 saying all mineral explorations shall be under the supervision and control of the State based on the Regalian Doctrine, rests the question how people of the Cordillera can assert their legal control on their very own resources.

In the same perspective, the militant organization forwards the analysis that communities vis a vis decision making in governance is still a far cry as to their full participation and confidence in their very own leaders. Can regional autonomy, considering the dictate of national laws and present state of patronage and corrupt politics assure better times in this present call for regional autonomy?

While this is so, the camp of the Cordillera Executive Board and Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army are opposing this RDC- led call for autonomy with legal questions on RDC not being the right personality to implement the road to regional autonomy.

This embattled road to regional autonomy is now in the hands of the people as it reaches its third take. I would like to take this exercise as a venue to forward whatever recommendations there may be. As whether government would listen to what the people want is still a point of contention.