By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
One of the stories in this issue is to the effect that the drive for Cordillera autonomy has again garnered new powerful people in government (legislators and some national executives) parroting motherhood statements of support for the realization of that Cordilleran dream. The first step is for the Lower House and then the Senate to pass the bill, to be later signed into law by the President. Then it will be the subject of a plebiscite to find out if the Cordillerans will approve it.
Looking back, there were already two Organic Acts (laws) for the establishment of Cordillera autonomy but these were junked by the people. I can’t recall exactly how things turned out but during the first plebiscite only one Cordillera province gave its nod, and in the second, only two, or was it vice-versa? Or only one province assented during the first and second?
Cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines or the New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) outsmarted Cordilleran officials or those pro-autonomy. As a backgrounder, the drive for autonomy was started by the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), a breakaway group from the CPP/NPA headed by Conrado Balweg. The CPP/NPA did not take that, being spurned, sitting down. They flexed their muscles by campaigning against autonomy and they were very successful. All they did was to go around telling people that if autonomy were established, the government would tax everything including chickens, pigs and harvests from backyard gardens. They even coined the term “oto, oto kayo!” It worked. Cordilleran officials and pro-autonomy groups ended up biting the dust of the CPP/NPA cadres.
Back to the present autonomy drive. The passage of an autonomy law, I think, is a minor problem. While that needs to be worked on, the bigger obstacle would be how to get the people’s nod. In all the past efforts to achieve autonomy former Baguio City mayor and congressman Mauricio Domogan had spent his voice hoarse explaining to people and other local Cordilleran officials that autonomy would be a big economic boon for everyone. The approach, however, was intellectual. It did not emotionally arouse people to drop everything and join the bandwagon of pro-autonomy advocates.
And there is that well-ingrained idea that only politicians and officials will benefit from the economic benefits that might result. “Kurakuten met lang dagita opisyales ken politico” (The money will just end up in the pockets of officials or politicians.)
Long story short, I had been saying all along that professional marketing people should be brought in to market the idea of autonomy to the Cordilleran masses. They know how to do it. They have the tools and methods to achieve the goal of making people behave in a way. Of course they are not cheap.
All that might be needed are the right poster girl/s or poster boy/s, or the right slogans, etc. …. I really don’t know.
To illustrate the genius of those in marketing, look at the Marllboro Man. He did not even say a word. He was just being repeatedly shown in mass media riding a horse through rivers and mountain parts and millions around the world kept on buying his cigarette. Well, he later died of cancer. Karma?
But sometimes marketing people also fail, and they would know it was coming. In 1998, Joe De Venecia ran for president. Long before the campaign, he commissioned a marketing group to study how he could be promoted to the public. They went around showing the picture of the man to innocent small kids. When they showed it to a group of pre-schoolers, they started laughing and shouting, “Mickey Mouse! Micky Mouse!” The marketing people shook their heads: “Talagang mahirap ibenta.” Am sure the guy could not have done anything about his big ears and other facets of his appearance. Worse, he was looked at nationally as the prime example of a traditional politician (tradpol) and, rightly or wrongly, he was reputed to have had all the bad characteristics of one.
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