Of representation, unity in Cordillera autonomy

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

Picking up from former congressman-lawyer William Claver’s sponsorship speech, An Act establishing the Cordillera Administrative Region, at the House of Representatives in 1989, it is interesting to note that representation of the legislative assembly of the proposed autonomous state in the first proposed Organic Act worked on by the then Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission included sectoral representation from the youth.

This inclusion apparently opened other sectors in being part of the Council of Leaders meant to be the policy making body of an envisioned autonomous Cordillera region; aside from the equal representation of provinces and cities.

Indeed, the ideals of the first Organic Act where such may have been the initial intention to include sectoral representation in the Legislative Assembly was not far from the creation of sectoral representation of the Mountain Province sub drafting committee for a proposed Organic Act in the Cordillera’s third attempt to establish an autonomous region.

Representative sectors-academe, business, church, elders, and Non-Government Agencies to include women and farmers- were identified in an earlier consultation called for by Mountain Province Gov. Leonard Mayaen late last year.

It is unfortunate though that such sectoral representation and what it was supposed to do to get the pulse of each sector had not worked out as it should be due to no funds to work on, or rather, the system to make use of the funds administered by the Regional Development Council -National Economic Development Authority (RDC-NEDA) intended for information was not facilitative enough to let full consultations proceed.

As noted during the municipal consultations in Mountain Province late last year, such were limited left with a strong clamor for barangay and sectoral consultations which haven’t seen implementation. It is in this context that the Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada in a resolution forwarded the need for consultations in the barangays and thus submitted a proposal to the Regional Development Council for their consideration.

And to make matters quick, House Bill 5595 was recently signed by congressmen Theodore Baguilat of Ifugao, MaximoDalog of Mountain Province, Eleanor Begtang-Bulut of Apayao, ManuelAgyao of Kalinga and Baguio City solon Bernardo Vergara. Benguet congressman Ronald Cosalan and Rep. Maria Jocelyn Bernos of Abra declined to sign with the reservation that the proposed Act needs further consultation.

To continue the topic on sectoral representation, the now proposed Organic Act does not mention any sectoral representation at all or even a youth representative for that matter in the legislative assembly. It only provides for two representatives per province and per chartered city, and one representative per component city.

Within the light of distinct sectoral concerns where these need special attention, the idea of a sectoral representation is indeed appropriate and wanting in a legislative body which the third autonomy act drafting committee has ignored.

Another proposal in the initial Organic Act is that of a Council of Elders which is meant to have functions similar to that of the Sandiganbayan. As AttyClaver forwarded, the Council of Elders with the Office of the Cordillera Chief Prosecutor are “patterned after the customary Council of Elders whose competence and integrity are a by-word word among the people.”

The now proposed Organic Act though does not mention the existence of a Council of Elders. Strange how such an organic Act ignores a very significant part of the socio--political systems of the Igorot where elders play a significant role in settling disputes.

While House Bill 5595 does recognize indigenous practises in maintaining peace and order, the special role of the Council of Elders was especially pointed out in the first Organic Act.

Now comes the rushed proposed Organic Act targeted for plebiscite before the 2013 elections as if we didn’t learn from history that the failure of the previous two plebiscites in 1990 and 1999 noted the lack of information and consultation from where informed comments and recommendations be taken note of.

In the words of Claver, “Consultations are the most democratic means of ascertaining the needs, demands, and dreams of the people. The phrase, ‘VoxPopuliVox Dei’ can never become a cliché, if only because it reflects a truism and a condition that seem to be always present among us; that the majority have a right to be heard, and when they are not listened to, they have the option to choose which weapon of empowerment they can resort to so that not only will their voice be heared, but will also be followed.”

And in crafting a vital legal document from where people shall craft a law to govern their distinct oneness as a people and the development that they want as a region, such may take years for people to get empowered of a regional autonomy that they want. For after all, the most vital of a government are the people.

Yet, congressmen now pushed by the chairman of the Third Autonomy Act Drafting Committee Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan and the Regional Development Council are that impatient and signed a document which in the first place needs enough consultation for people to get informed and in that manner come up with intelligent suggestions to get incorporated in a proposed law.

HB 5595 even carries a threatening provision that provinces which vote unfavorably shall go back to their mother region and that would be either Region 1 or 2.

How ironic. The current proposed Organic Act is trying to divide provinces of the Cordillera instead of gathering them as one region. From the words of a Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) founding leader Benjamin Solang who lobbied for regional autonomy of the Cordillera in the 1987 Constitution, such bogus regional autonomy is “divisive”.