By Ramon Dacawi
BAGUIO CITY -- The unity and
passion needed to flesh out autonomy for the Cordillera may yet be at hand as
leaders of this upland region - including its seven congressional
representatives - have set a region-wide summit on the issue of self-rule on
April 30 at the Baguio City National High School.
The summit
comes 27 years after ratification of the 1987 Constitution that provided
for the creation of autonomous regions for the Cordillera and Muslim
Mindanao to “accelerate (the) economic and social growth and development”
of said regions which, despite their natural wealth, continue to lag
behind the rest of the country.
It comes
after two organic acts to establish self-rule were rejected in two
plebiscites, reportedly mainly due to lack of understanding and appreciation of
autonomy resulting from a weak and limited grassroots information campaign.
The
April 30 powwow was forged during a meeting last March 11 among Cordillera
congressional representatives with governors, mayors and members of the
Regional Development Council who traveled to meet them at the House of
Representatives.
In a
meeting of the preparations committee last Tuesday, Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping
explained the Cordillera solons agreed to come up with a new autonomy bill
based on inputs during the whole-day summit.
Aliping
said the solons will set up a committee to help them draft the new measure
which will also be based on House Bill 5595 which was filed during the previous
Congress and earlier documents.
In
preparation for the summit and as agreed during the consultation with the
Cordillera solons, provincial, city and other local consultations are continuing,
according to regional director Milagros Rimando of the National Economic and
Development Authority.
The
promise of active engagement of most or all of the Cordillera representatives
during and after the summit – especially their eventual drafting and filing of
a new organic act – has boosted hopes for warming up the national government’s
support to the constitutional mandate for autonomy in the region.
“Cordillerans
led by its officials have to deliver one message to the national government
that we want autonomy,” city mayor Mauricio Domogan, who will host the
summit with Rep. Aliping, noted recently. “To be united is the only way
we can drive home the point and for us to be heard.”
Domogan
feels that Malacanang is not receptive to the push for Cordillera autonomy as
it would mean devolution of some of its key powers and function and additional
fund provisions called for under an autonomous region set-up.
In a
recent forum here, former provincial planning and development officer Bial Palaez
of Benguet also stressed that the key to achieving autonomy is for the region’s
leaders to spearhead the push. He said that while he and others worked
for approval of the first autonomy bill, it was rejected in Benguet
because the key leaders of the province were campaigned against it.
The
mayor, who has been pushing the quest for self-rule in numerous forums,
maintained that the drive must done peacefully, unlike the forging of a
Bangsamoro region in Mindanao which was marked by violence and war.
“Getting
into war may appear to be an effective means to get the needed attention from
the government, bur let us make a difference and show them that we can attain
our autonomy goal through peaceful means even if it will take us a long time to
do it,” the mayor said.
The
mayor headed the committee mandated by the Regional Development Council that
crafted the draft of the third organic act for Cordillera autonomy which became
HP 5595 and Senate Bill 3115.
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