Autonomy a top issue In Igorot consultation

By Ramon S. Dacawi

The elusive issue of and quest for autonomy in the Cordillera homeland will cap discussions in the ninth Igorot International Consultation (IIC) set by the Igorot Global Organization on April 12-14 here and in Benguet.

Host city mayor Mauricio Domogan, head of the committee that drafted the third organic act towards regional self-rule, will present the features of the autonomy bill during the IIC plenary session on April 13 at the Baguio Country Club.

He will be assisted by Dr. Peter Cosalan, private sector representative in the Regional Development Council who will speak on autonomy in the context of speeding up progress of this mountain region whose natural resources have been tapped for decades in the name of national development yet ironically remains among the country’s poorest regions.

The twin topics will highlight the planning workshop of the three-day consultation here and at the Pooten Residence in Tuba, Benguet, according to IGO-Philippines which is hosting the biennial forum for the third time.

Expatriates from the Cordillera headed by IGO-International president Ceasar Castro in Vancouver, Canada and heads of the various chapters of the BIBAK or BIMAAK organization around the world, will be coming home for the consultation.

BIMAAK stands for Baguio city and the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Abra, Apayao and Kalinga comprising the region established in 1987 under a temporary administrative set-up, purposely towards fleshing an autonomous region.

Domogan explained that the establishment of autonomy in the Cordillera was provided for in the 1987 Philippine Constitution in recognition of the region’s contributions to national development and its own need to benefit from the exploitation of its once-rich mineral, water and other natural resources.

Specifically, the discrepancy in progress was underscored by the fact that energy generated by the hydroelectric dams and gold and other minerals mined in the Cordillera, particularly Benguet province, spurred the development of Metro-Manila. Villages surrounding the Ambuklao and Binga dams, however, were among the last to be energized.

Over the years, Benguet had to beg the national government for its tax and national wealth shares from the operation of the gold mines.

Autonomy was supposed to legally enable the national government to provide additional development support to the Cordillera over and above what its local government units receive in International Revenue Allotments (IRA).

Autonomy, Domogan stressed, would also provide the Cordillera a sense of identity as a region and as a people.

Self-rule, however, remained elusive. Two organic acts supposed to flesh out autonomy, were rejected in plebiscites. With only Ifugao voting for the first charter and only Apayao ratifying the second charter, the Supreme Court ruled that a one-province autonomous region is legally untenable.

The 9th IIC will be ushered in on April 11 with a golf tournament, art exhibit and trade fair and an indigenous ritual to launch “Igorot by Heart”, a book compilation of the keynote speeches and selected presentations in the first eight consultations that began in 1995 in West Covina, California.

Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo will be invited to keynote the 9th consultation on April 12, according to IGO-Philippines president Manuel Ano and program chair Edna Tabanda

Resource speakers will then squeeze in the following topics, each in 20 minutes, in the afternoon plenary session: IGO and IIC in Retrospect by IGO elder Mia Abeya; People Participation in a Democracy by Tanya Hamada of the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance; Public-Private Partnership by Dr. Rowena Galpo of the Baguio Health Dept.;

People Organization in the Context of Self-governance by Benjamin Solang of the Cordillera Development Program; Igorot/Cordillera Migrant Workers by Beverly Pooten of IGO-Spain; Managing the Water Commons by Prof. Andrew Bacdayan; and Multi-culturalism by National Commission on Indigenous Peoples Chair Brigitte Hamada-Pawid.

The workshops will focus on civil society participation in governance, social/health/education/sports/migrant workers, environment and climate change/disaster risk reduction, ancestral lands and domains/natural resources/ indigenous peoples, trade and industry/investment/tourism/agriculture/entrepreneurship development, culture and the arts/indigenous knowledge, issues/concerns/reforms in governance, and youth and development.

The consultations will shift to cultural festivities on April 14 at the residence of lawyer-businessman Richard Stone Pooten at Asin, Tuba, Benguet, with Ifugao Rep. TeodoroBaguilat Jr., the chair of the committee on national cultural communities as guest of honor and speaker.

The upcoming consultation was announced last March 3 through a press conference that coincided with a raffle draw at the Malcolm Square here.

IGO-Philippines finance committee chair Salma Martin said funds raised from the draw will go to the scholarship fund being maintained by the IGO for students in the Cordillera. She acknowledged supporters of the campaign, specifically citing Baguio congressman Bernardo Vergara who, she said, also came in as a major sponsor of the consultation.