Cordillera leaders meet with senators for autonomy push

By Marlo T. Lubguban

BAGUIO CITY -- Cordillera local leaders and elders met with Senate members Friday to gain support and fast-track legislation to establish the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera.

Filed as Senate Bill 1678 by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri last February, the Organic Act establishing the ARC is a counterpart of House Bill 5343 filed by all six Cordillera representatives last 2017.

                Both bills are currently in their respective Committees on Local Government.

The meeting was organized by OPAPP, the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG), and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) in coordination with the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-CAR).

                They sought to inform Senators of the unity of the Cordilleran people in their quest for self-determination, communicate to them the pressing need for autonomy in the region, and receive their support as Cordillera autonomy champions.  

The Cordillera has continued the struggle for regional autonomy since the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in 1987. CAR was established to transition the region towards an autonomous regional government. After 31 years of pursuing regional autonomy and self-determination, the RDC and NEDA-CAR continue to assert that Cordillera autonomy is the key to just and lasting peace and sustainable development in the region.

This, as Cordillera congressmen Allan Jesse Mangaoang of Kalinga (who is also Legislative Caretaker of Mountain Province) and Mark Go of Baguio urged the Cordillera public to provide support and recommendations on the Cordillera Organic Act, House Bill 5343, or “An Act Establishing the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera” during Cordillera Unity Gong festivities.

In the July 10 Kalinga leg of the Unity Gong Relay Mangaoang said, “In 2006, the RDC adopted autonomy as the guiding theme of Cordillera development. That is why we are here today, to unite all provinces and cities to drumbeat for autonomy symbolized in the Unity Gong. House Bill 5343 was signed by all Cordillera representatives as a show of commitment to regional autonomy.”

Mangaoang led the public consultation on House Bill 5343 in Mountain Province last July 12.

Representatives from the public and private sectors of Mountain Province gathered in Bontoc to provide comments and support for the Cordillera Organic Act.

                It is the second of the public consultations on the House Bill. Local leaders voiced their support for the bill citing its provisions on additional development budget and improved control of natural resources.

Meanwhile in the Baguio leg of the Unity Gong Relay, Go urged not only his constituents but all Cordillerans to support the bill and provide suggestions to help improve it.

He noted, “It will bring government closer to the people…we can better monitor our public officials with an autonomous government, your government leaders will not have the convenient excuse of blaming the national government for failed programs.” He added that there will be more accountability among public servants in an autonomous government.

The Cordillera Unity Gong symbolizes unity of the Cordillera towards achieving the goal of regional autonomy.

The gong is passed from province to province every July since 2012 in a week-long celebration of the creation of Cordillera Administrative Region towards an autonomous region.