What if…

BENCHWARMER
Ramon Dacawi

(With five of the Cordillera representatives to Congress having signed the third draft for autonomy in this upland region, the debate on self-rule is again heating up. Joining the discussions, I recall this piece on this space a few months back.)

The “what if” questions about Cordillera autonomy just keep recurring. To demand definitive answers to them would be unfair as the real answers would never come unless we go and try self-rule as provided in the 1987 Constitution.

For one, it would be unreasonable to use the actual and real problems of the existing autonomous region in Mindanao to measure the outcome of autonomy that is not yet in place up here in the Cordillera.

In the same token, the failure of democracy in one country cannot be the basis to believe that it would fail in another nation before it is even tried. In the same vein, a system’s actual success in one area is never an assurance of its triumph in another.

We would never know the fruits of autonomy unless we try it.

I found an analogy while sipping coffee with media colleagues inside Luisa’s Café. (We hang out there because the owner, Roland Wong, allows us to plug our laptops to his electric system for free and to occupy his tables for hours without ordering anything. It’s like we own the place.)

Some of the guys were lining up their 6/55 Grand Lotto cards for Lolit the bet collector to register these at the nearest gaming outlet. One of them posed theoretically: “When we win, how would we go about securing ourselves, our winning ticket and our winnings? What if we’d be waylaid and robbed of our winning ticket on our way to the PCSO? What if we’d be subjected to casing by robbers waiting for us to withdraw so they’d order us to face the wall?”

True to the nature of journalists believing that they have the all the answers, some readily outlined security measures to prevent a sting, before, during and after registering our winning ticket combination. These included the advice of depositing the winning ticket in a reputable bank which would then work out the release and deposit of our millions to our account.

True to the nature of journalists, hardly any of the security measure proposed passed the scrutiny of their peers. I don’t know when, but we eventually sobered up to the reality of it all. It was foolhardy to even talk of securing your winnings until you’ve won, which would never be unless you go ahead and play lotto.

To be within the galactic realm, however light years away from the possibility of winning (with the odds at one against millions), I lined up my six-number combination and, together with the corresponding amount, handed my bet card to Lolit.

Unlike hitting the lotto jackpot, autonomy is no remote possibility. It’s not a chance in a million but a clear probability, if only we finally allow it to be. Otherwise, we’d be giving the signal to Congress to delete a useless constitutional provision calling for the establishment of self-rule that we insisted on including but eventually rejected twice.

In including such provision, the framers of the Constitution saw autonomy as the legal basis for the national government to provide the Cordillera development support over and beyond what it is receiving like any other regular region. This was a move to correct the historical inequity of national development through the exploitation of the Cordillera’s natural resources (basically mineral and water) that spurred Metro-Manila and other parts of the country but which left us behind the other regions.

Sadly, this is not the focus of some detractors of the third attempt to craft an organic act for autonomy. For one, they express the unfounded fear that one or two richer provinces would end up supporting or subsidizing poorer provinces in the region, in the same token that the region’s wealth spurred the progress of Metro-Manila. Others question why Baguio mayor Mauricio Domogan is taking the lead role in this third and probably last try for self-rule. Still others are opting for a status quo or a federal form of government.

We need not clamor for a federal structure which some local governments not given the chance for autonomy are pressing for. If such a law passes, then we become part of a federal state which, in the case of one such proposal, would be composed of Regions 1, 2, 3 and the Cordillera.

This means we would be in the same status as the rest of the other regions in the country. As we are now, under an administrative set-up like the rest of the country,m albeit temporary in our case. As such, our internal revenue allotments from the national government are based on population and land area, which we don’t have compared to, say, the province of Pangasinan.

That’s why the Bicol Region, with Albay Gov. Joey Salceda at the helm, is pressing for an autonomous region around Mayon. Autonomy would give Bicol greater lee-way in developing its resources for its own development and legal basis for seeking national support over and above its internal revenue allotments.

Domogan is in the lead role because the Regional Development Council elected him last year to head the Third Autonomy Act Drafting Committee. He did not decline his election because he believes autonomy is and should be the future of the Cordillera.

Autonomy is autonomy within autonomy. Otherwise, it’s not autonomy. This means each province would be independent of each other, not one dependent on the resources of another.

To be clear, no benefit or power that the local government units of the Cordillera are presently receiving or enjoying would be diminished under an autonomous set up. Autonomy would give the national government legal basis to give the Cordillera additional benefits, power and authority to speed up its progress and determine its future.

Anthropology professor Ike Picpican sums it up: “It’s high-time for us to give autonomy a chance to show itself. Release this horse to the open so we can see its real color and character. It may turn out to be a winner, after all. Instead of dwelling on pessimism, let’s give the horse a try, believing in the good faith and wisdom of those who will draft the organic act for autonomy. As the rider, we can harness the horse, rein it in if it’s going wayward. If we ride it and it does not run, then we can condemn it to the slaughterhouse - but not before we try it.”

Okay, okay, but what if……?(e-mail:mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments).