By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
The biggest problem of this region and almost all other regions in this country is congestion and inequitable distribution of wealth. So those who recognize these and have practical measures or ideas, not just motherhood statements or high-sounding generalizations, on how to deal with these win my vote and of those close to me.
One such measure is the establishment of a permanent Cordillera Autonomous Region. It will not be a magic wand but some of the problems of being just a small part of a highly centralized national government where major decisions are done by non-Crdillerans in Metro Manila could be easier dealt with. There is the possibility though of the national tyranny just being transferred to local politiciands but, at least, these would be nearer to us.
Related to this problem is concentration of development in few highly populated areas—or just one urban center, Baguio City and La Trinidad, where those who can afford, or have the chance, are flocking resulting in underdevelopment in the outlying areas of the region.
Look at one example, fast foods. They are all concentrated in Baguio City and La Trinidad while even the capitals of the provinces comprising the region are still just rural areas.
Outside of Baguio City and La Trinidad, the most progressive provincial capital would be Tabuk City. How many popular fast foods are there? Just two—Jollibee and Mang Inasal. Actually, these are just one, owned by only one corporate conglomerate.
The result? Congestion in Baguio and La Trinidad where squatters abound. After several decades, Tabuk would be bringing up the rear but that would be a long time.
How about the other provincial capitals? It will take them several generations before they can graduate from being rural.
To speed up the development of these areas to get them up to par with Baguio or La Trinidad would take national measures like pouring national wealth into their coffers.
In a way this could have been partly achieved had we become an autonomous region,
Sadly, talk about these to Baguio politicians, who are the respected leaders in this region, and their expected answer would be:,“Oh, we are already doing that in Baguio along with the nearby municipalities, thus, we came up with the BLISTT (Baguio La Trinidad Itogon Sablan Tuba and Tublay) concept of development.”
That only takes care of a small part of the region. We need something that encompasses the whole.
If huge development funds were poured into areas like Buguias in Benguet, Bontoc and Tadian in Mountain Province, Lagawe in Ifugao, Tabuk in Kalinga, Conner or Kabugago in Apayao, and a strategic area in Abra, to make them economically progressive in a wholesome way, there will be a lot less people flocking to Baguio City. More so if other nearby areas belonging to other regions like Rosario, Pugo and Agood of La Union and Bambang in Nueva Vizcaya were also developed. People migrating out from Baguio and La Trinidad might even ensue.
But is this just a pie in the sky? No if our regional and national leaders, to borrow the favorite expression of Mauricio Domogan, started thinking out of the box. While that might have become a cliché the world over, its essence is what we need for our “tagpi tagpi” kind of development, if not mentality.
How about equitable distribution of wealth? Decentralized development will partly result in that but there would be a lot more to this which we will talk about at length next time.**
