Village-based talks urged on Cordillera autonomy’

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

SAGADA Mountain province -- While talks are being hastened by regional officials on the proposed Cordillera autonomous government, folks in villages remain ignorant on regional autonomy as they called for barangay-based consultations.

Barangay captain Anastacio Domling of eastern Antadao and Nanette Alangui of southern barangay Suyo said consultations on regional autonomy be done during their barangay assemblies or meetings.

The  basic question of what  autonomy is, was  most asked question  in four  separate consultations here in the eastern, central, southern and northern  zones of  Sagada organized by the  Peaceful Environment for the Advancement of  Communities and  Education (PEACE)  with the support  of the National Economic  Development Authority (NEDA).

Speaker executive assistant Angel Baybay to the provincial government traced the history on the quest for regional autonomy with the old Mountain Province then composed of then districts Abra, Benguet, Bontoc, Ifugao, and KalingaApayao till the districts split as separate province with the creation of the now Mountain Province as one province separate from the other provinces. The regionalization law split the six provinces where Mountain Province and Benguet joined Region 1 and other provinces to Region 2. 

Not until the mid ‘80s  when some groups including the Cordillera Peoples  Liberation Army (CPLA) met with then President Cory Aquino at Mt Data, Bauko  to clamor for  federal regional autonomy.

The meeting led to the passage of Executive Order 220 which stamped preparation for the autonomous region of the Cordillera and making way for the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region with Baguio City as the regional capital.

With the lobbying for regional autonomy by groups including Cordillera Peoples Alliance, provision for regional autonomy for the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao was enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.

The call for regional autonomy was for self-determination of the Cordillera peoples to their natural and economic resources and political governance.  

The failed plebiscite followed in 1990 and 1998 where only Ifugao and Apayao voted yes respectively for regional autonomy till its awakening again for the third take in 2007.

In eastern Sagada, barangay captain FerminLumbaya of Kilong asked “Why are we campaigning for regional autonomy when autonomy in Mindanao failed”.

The autonomous government of Muslim Mindanao gained their autonomous state led by Gov. NurMisuari in 1989. This autonomous governance in Muslim Mindanao however failed as noted in mismanagement and corruption of autonomy funds.

 Lumbaya asked anyone from Mindanao to share any good or beneficial experience of Mindanao as basis for Cordillera autonomy.

 Baybay noted that Mindanao has differing practices from the Cordillera noting the leadership of the  datu in Mindanao who wields authoritative power as compared to elders in the Cordillera who have consensus decisions in cultural and socio-political issues.

 Barangay captain Ben Manawen of Tetep-a Norte asked “where have we failed why we are campaigning for autonomy”.

 Manawen asked  his query within the  framework of autonomous  settings  where  villagers  freely govern themselves and  express  their sentiments  and decisions  on their cultural practices and opinions on  matters that crucially concern them including their opposition against  large scale mining and energy project intrusions as noted in Mountain Province.

The role of elders in policy making was a major recommendation by Indigenous Peoples Representative to the Sangguniang Bayan Jaime Dugao who comes from southern Ankileng barangay.

Dugao in his proposal stressed that elders be selected by consensus as noted in customary village practices and not by election as found in the manner of choosing the regional assemblymen and regional governor in the proposed bill on regional autonomy.

As a policy making body, Dugao said the council of elders shall be represented from the barangay level who shall  choose their own  representatives to the  municipal level and the municipal representatives who shall choose their provincial  and city representatives who shall then make  up the council of elders in the regional body.

As  customary  in  cultural communities,  elders  do the decisions in  cultural  activities and  have their say  in  socio-political matters that affect the community including  resolving conflicts in  territorial and ownership disputes of their ancestral properties and domains.

In southern Sagada where vegetables and fruits are grown, community women leader Annie Sumedca asked what role regional autonomy shall have on the fluctuating prices of vegetables asking “if farmers could dictate on the prices of vegetables if we become autonomous”.

Speaker  Michael Umaming  with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and formerly working with NEDA  stressed on policy making  role  of an autonomous region  anchoring on  the Cordillera with  rich natural resources and peoples having  distinct customs and practices.

The Cordillera’s resources include minerals potential for mining, waters potential for hydro power and the wind and sun potential for renewable energy including its agricultural mountainous terraces fit for vegetables and agro-forest products such as coffee.

Large scale mining is currently found in Benguet and some parts of Kalinga. Hydroelectric energy is located in the Mountain Province, Benguet and Ifugao.

Despite Benguet providing hydropower for the region and the rest of the nation and mineral resources from mining industries contributing to national wealth, the Cordillera only contributed 1.95% to the national economy in 2012 lower than the Ilocos Region’s contribution of 3% with the National Capital Region contributing the most at 35.7% as noted from NEDA records.

Umaming noted  that  taxes of capitalist companies  who operate in the Cordillera pay their taxes in their central offices in Manila.

He also forwarded inclusion of  the source of headwaters on the definition and  coverage of ‘host communities’ as to their share on  taxes with reference to the House Bill that  Baguio City mayor and former Baguio congressman Mauricio  Domogan filed in Congress  which remains to be unfavorably  responded to. 

A question was asked by Tetep-an elder and former barangay chairman BasilioOwatan on the financial scenario of an autonomous Cordillera. “Can we support ourselves as a region if we have already become independent and financial subsidy is depleted?” he asked.

Umaming noted the shares that the Cordillera shall receive from national wealth when it becomes an autonomous region including 40% of the taxes from national wealth to be allotted for the regional government and 1% of the national internal revenue taxes as share of the regional autonomous region as stated in House Bill 4696.

This writer who coordinated PEACE, cited features of an autonomous region on the election of a regional governor and  members of the regional legislative  assembly,  its 75 billion peso financial subsidy in 10 years and what functions an autonomous state should handle and should not handle as stated in House Bill 4696.

Economic, social and educational development programs and policies were some of components that an autonomous region shall handle aside from administration and creation of sources of revenues and control on its ancestral domains and natural resources.

A national policy needing  amendment was  Presidential Decree 705  declaring  lands above 20% in slope and over as public land  as contrary to what indigenous peoples of the Cordillera  consider their  ancestral lands as their private and communal properties.

Educator Patrick Pooten said social services such as health and education should find more attention in an autonomous region. As it is, not all citizens have free Philhealth benefits and far flung villages still lack classrooms including college education still dominated by private schools with high tuition fees.

 In northern Sagada, lessening corruption was in an autonomous region was asked. Northern folks said strict monitoring mechanisms should be in place.

 In central Sagada, the question of whether there shall be demilitarization of armed groups like the New People’s Army and the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army aside from other armed groups- was asked should there be an autonomous  region.

 Sagada while it was declared as a peace zone  in the late 1980s had long been violated as  peace zone with the occurrence of AFP-NPA ambushes since its declaration.