Group created to push Cordillera autonomy

By Jordan Habbiling

BAGUIO CITY -- The City Council has passed a resolution creating a sub-committee under the committee on indigenous people to educate the public about House Bill No. 3267,  “An Act Establishing the Cordillera Autonomous Region.”
    The sub-committee shall consist of at least a lawyer, one female, and representatives of the Association of Barangay Captains and the Sanggunian Kabataan Federation.
    The sub-committee shall hold regular public fora in coordination with other government and non-government organizations, inviting guest speakers from concerned stakeholders using available resources and facilities of the city government.
    It shall submit periodic reports on the outcome of the fora to the city council’s Committee on Indigenous People and to all the representatives of the Cordillera Administrative Region to the House of Congress.
    Councilor Jose Molintas, author of the resolution said the active participation of the general public should be encouraged “in order to achieve a genuine autonomous region.”
    “Conversation, dialogues, and debates should be held in an appropriate forum in coordination with the other local government units and line agencies as well as active involvement of peoples organizations, non-government organizations, the academe, the media, and all sectors of the society,” Molintas wrote in the resolution.
    Two plebiscites (1990 and 1998) were conducted in the region to legalize Cordillera autonomy but majority of the voters rejected the proposed organic acts.
    Molintas attributed the rejection to insufficient understanding of the public on the need to convert the present status of the area from being an administrative region to an autonomous region.
    He said there was “urgent” need to involve the public in studying the provision of House Bill No. 2367 so that they will be “informed” and “consulted” about their aspirations for a genuine autonomous region to be incorporated in the discussions in the House of Congress and the Senate.
    He said this will prevent another rejection. 
    On August 8, 2022, House Bill No. 3267 was filed jointly by all the representatives of the Cordillera Administrative Region, seeking for the establishment of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera.