Cordi pols urge P-Noy: Suspend EO on CPLA, government agreement

BAGUIO CITY— The Cordillera Regional Development Council urged President Aquino to suspend implementation of Executive Order No. 49 – the so-called“closure agreement” between the government and the Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People’s Liberation Army for the rebel group to lay down their arms and instead help government in economic growth.

In a press conference here last week, Dr. Virgilio Bautista, RDC co-chairman, said regional line agency officials voted in favor of the resolution to suspend the implementation of EO 49.

Bautista made the announcement right after a meeting on the contents of the closure agreement presented by the government with the CPLA faction headed by ArsenioHumiding.

He said President Benigno S. Aquino III must suspend the implementation of EO 49 until such time that all sensitive issues concerning the agreement for lasting peace in the Cordillera region have been effectively and efficiently addressed.

Earlier, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said that the government and the CPLA are closer than ever before to reaching a closure agreement that will pave the way for lasting peace in the region.

The OPAPP is hoping for the speedy implementation of EO 49 in order to proceed with pre-identified socio-economic projects for the recipient communities.

This amidst pressure reportedly employed by the OPAPP for regional line agency officials to backtrack from their resolution requesting President Aquino to suspend the implementation of Executive Order No. 49 until such time that all sensitive issues concerning the agreement shall have been effectively and efficiently addressed by the OPAPP.

Speaking during a press conference right after a special Regional Development Council en banc meeting here last week where OPAPP officials presented the contents of the closure agreement with the CPLA faction headed by ArsenioHumiding, Bautista, disclosed several regional line agency officials who voted in favor of an earlier resolution requesting the suspension of the implementation of the closure agreement had been receiving calls from influential officials from Manila asking them to withdraw their stand on the controversial closure agreement so that the OPAPP could proceed with the implementation of the pre-identified socio-economic projects for the recipient communities.

Despite alleged machinations by the OPAPP to muddle the issue and get away with the “defective memorandum of agreement,” the RDC official asserted the earlier resolution requesting President Aquino to suspend the implementation of EO No. 49 stands considering that there are numerous issues raised against the agreement and that the same was executed without the appropriate consultation with regional line agency and local officials whose inputs should have been taken into consideration.

In his visit here last August, President Aquino directed the OPAPP to look into the issues being raised against the signing of the closure agreement with the Humiding faction of the CPLA, adding that he was not properly informed that there are other bolder factions of the armed group who are questioning their non-involvement and having not been consulted over the closure agreement.

While the RDC said they recognized efforts of OPAPP in forging the closure agreement, Bautista claimed all issues and concerns surrounding the sensitive matter must have to be patched up the concerned government agencies subject to consultations with affected sectors so that the implementation of the provisions of the same will be swift and acceptable to all sectors.

Instead of realizing a peaceful solution to the problem, Bautista cited the controversial CPLA-OPAPP agreement reopened the healed wounds among the feuding factions of the organization and is now causing headaches among Cordillera leaders who are religiously working to patch up the situation but it seems OPAPP refuses to come to terms with the other factions in order to permanently end the armed struggle in the region over the past three decades.

He said before sensitive issues will be subjected to agreements such as the closure agreement, consultations and machinations should have to be done with affected sectors in order to have a close to perfect agreement in the future.