CPLA ‘closure’

EDITORIAL

It would do well for Malacanang to extensively study its position on attaining peace in the Cordillera particularly in dealing with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army which has two factions claiming they are the genuine CPLA.

Earlier this month, the two groups held separate events celebrating the 25th year of the signing of the Mt. Data peace accord.

In Baguio City, the Regional Development Council-backed faction led by Mike Suguiyao celebrated at the Baguio Convention Center with symbols of the peace pact: the armalites, the Bible, and the rosary.

At Bauko, Mountain Province in the Mt. Data Lodge where the accord was then signed by former President Corazon Aquino and CPLA founder Conrado Balweg in 1986, the event was celebrated by the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Peace Process-backed faction led by Arsenio Humiding.

It was at the site where the late President and former rebel priest exchanged tokens symbolizing the end to hostilities in the Cordillera.

Founding members of the CPLA, some in their ‘60s, were also present during the Mt. Data event where members “adopted” two resolutions which they said were geared to achieving “peace.”

One was the closure agreement signed between the Humiding group and President Benigno Aquino 111, the son of the late President.

The Humiding group urged the OPAPP to speed-up its implementation and to sign a manifesto expressing their sentiments about RDC’s signing of a resolution asking President Benigno Aquino III to suspend implementation of the closure and later backed a faction that they claimed was never a part of the group that broached the sipat.

Humiding said his group was hurt by the RDC’s actions saying their talks with the OPAPP began in 2010 but until the signing of the closure agreement, they never heard them object.

“Now that the agreement is being implemented, people whom we look up to as our leaders would suddenly claim they are not aware of what was about to take place,” Humiding said claiming several governors in the region are supportive to their cause.

Humiding said his group was willing to meet with the RDC but this should not prevent the OPAPP from proceeding with mapping operations or identification of development projects suitable for the areas where members reside.

In the same gathering, Humiding and OPAPP representatives clarified that the term “closure” does not refer to the beginning of a war in the region but signifies peace and development.

A representative from the OPAPP said the “closure” intends to end negotiations which for the past 25 years appeared endless because past administrations did not pay attention to ending peace negotiations.

Humiding also denied usurping the powers of Suguiyao who claimed to be the chairman of the CPLA and of Mailed Molina, who at one point, also led the group and the heirs of Fr. Balweg, the so-called bearers of the symbols of peace.

Humiding said selection of leaders of the CPLA was not inherited or appointed. Like in any democratic processes, his acceptance of the position was by popular clamor, he added, saying he would not have been chosen as leader if he did not have the following of majority of the group’s members.

The group’s secretary general former Sadanga mayor Gabino Ganggangan added, government would not negotiate with groups that do not have a clear mandate. He said the presence of zone commanders in Mt. Data, as well as the ratification of tribal elders were proof that he was recognized as the newest leader of the group.

The “closure agreement” included a P260 million economic package that included reintegration and livelihood support, development of communities with CPLA-Cordillera Bodong Administration presence, inter-municipal and inter-barangay economic development in select parts of the Cordillera, transformation of the CPLA-CBA into a legal entity for socio-economic development, disposition and laying down of arms of the 1099 members in eight months from the signing of the agreement and documentation of the CPLA-CBA history.

There is nothing wrong with a peace pact which is geared to making the Cordillera a more peaceful region. The President can sign any peace agreement with so-called “aggrieved” sectors like non-government or people’s organizations.

But then, there is a problem when taxpayers’ money is freely dispensed without objectively addressing issues or concerns like that of the CPLA which had been accused of a lot of human rights violations in the past.

It would do well for Malacanang and its so-called consultants to come up with appropriate measures to address other CPLA issues like allegations of murder and torture of its perceived “enemies” like that of respected Kalinga leader Daniel Ngayaan who was allegedly killed by CPLA cadres.

Otherwise, if such issues are not addressed, the question of whether the government is giving money supposedly for livelihood of CPLA members and their families when some have been accused of wrongdoing like murder leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

If such abuses have to be reinvestigated, then so be it and the guilty should be punished. There is no “closure” when justice has not been served particularly for victims and families of the CPLA’s abuses.