LAGAWE, IFUGAO – – Saying the support of three senators for the creation of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera is “a boost to the effort of gaining such status,” Ifugao Board Member Robert Mangyao lauded the bi-partisan efforts and pronouncements of Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimental III, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Juan Edgardo Angara.
Board Member Mangyao cited them for being the force behind the move to transform the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) into a self-reliant and bustling region.
Now, that’s what it entails for some autonomy advocates in the CAR to endure the continuing saga for self-rule.
Consider it as a rewarding opportunity for opting to listen to like-minded autonomy advocates at the Senate.
In a rather short notice, one is told to take a long trip to Manila for a few hours huddle with a few senators.
Like the senators, a few mayors and board members from Ifugao were in attendance at the “Leaders Forum with the Senators on the Cordillera Autonomy.” Organizers reportedly extended invitations only to governors, vice governors and mayors in the CAR.
Board Member Mangyao listened attentively to the insights shared by Senator Pimentel who expressed his “strong support for the passage of an appropriate law outlining the creation of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera (ARC). Senator Pimentel is the president of the ruling Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party. Senator Pimentel, also a lawyer from Cagayan de Oro City and former Senate President, is seeking re-election in less than a year’s time.
Senator Ejercito likewise aired his “full and unqualified” backing for the enactment of the law giving autonomy to the Cordillera region.
On the other hand, Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara of Aurora echoed the same sentiment. In a video message played during the forum, the young lawmaker said the legislature recognizes the vitality of the proposed bills both at the House of Representatives and the Senate. Senator Angara belongs to the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilpino (LDP) party.
House Bill 5343 drew the sponsorship of Cordillera Representatives Teodoro Baguilat Jr., Joseph Bernos, Eleanor Bulut-Begtang, Ronald Cosalan, Maximo Dalog, Mark Go and Allen Jesse Mangaoang.
Senate Bill 2018 was authored by Senator Zubiri of Bukidnon. Zubiri, an independent, is an ally of President Duterte. Senator Ejercito (Partido ng Masang Pilipino, San Juan City) authored Senate Bill 1923. Ejercito is a son of deposed President and current Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Ejercito, a stepbrother of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, is still qualified to seek another term or may run instead for mayor in San Juan City at the National Capital region or Metro Manila.
What’s the score card at the Senate for the autonomy initiative? Four senators are now on the side of Cordillera autonomy adherents. Good but, not very good enough! The Senate has 23 members. As it is, a mere 17 percent of its members are behind the autonomy bill. It is still not enough to carry the day for Team Cordillera Autonomy.
Or is it four senators and still counting? Only time will really tell.
Pro-autonomy stalwarts may no longer have to worry through the coming days or weeks if a breakthrough development takes place or they are one in lobbying at the Senate to obtain the necessary number during the crucial time when the measure is finally submitted to a vote.
“There is still a great clamor for autonomy in the province of Ifugao,” Board Member Mangyao pointed out.
In an exclusive interview with the ZigZag Weekly, Mangyao minced no words for a concerted, all-out drive for enactment of bills at the lower and upper chambers of Congress.
“All we need at the moment is for President Duterte to certify these bills as urgent,” he said.
“We will be seeking additional information from Mr. Dureza since he maintains strong linkage with President Duterte,” he added.
“And I think I can say with confidence that President Duterte will obviously consider that of great importance for all the reasons discussed in the forum,” the legislator from Lagawe said in an interview shortly after the gathering.
He said whatever perceived imperfections of the proposed autonomy law are interposed there is no reason to reject it as “there is an opportunity for stakeholders in other provinces to provide remedies in the future.” “I challenged them for their role in joining us and responding to the dictates of the common good,” he quipped.
For now, Board Member Mangyao is very excited and is really looking forward to interacting with the people during discussions and debates on the Cordillera autonomy issue.
He said the information education campaign in the grassroots level should be “prioritized” because it was “not enough that only a few in the public sector are getting the information about it.”
Many are now dazed in disbelief that after two failed attempts to get the people’s approval of two Organic Acts, Cordillera politicians are still pushing the grant of autonomy status to the largely underdeveloped region they themselves have been calling the shots in their turfs for so many years. In effect, many of them have been insensitive to the needs of their constituents and the results of the plebiscites attested to this view. Only Ifugao voted in the affirmative in the said electoral exercises on the autonomy issue.
Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, it is mandated that an Autonomous Region for the Cordillera be created.
Previous bids for autonomy offered not just the singular opportunity but two opportunities to end the quest for it, but politicians-backed proponents blew them. The people have to live with their blunders.
For instance, the conduct of purposive information dissemination of the benefits to be derived from the autonomy set-up should now be given to articulate, knowledgeable and intelligent men and women in the private sector, particularly those in nongovernment organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations (POs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and civic groups. It is important to establish close and strong ties with the citizenry at this point of time to ensure that they understand that the autonomy measure will directly address the main issue leading to the growth and development of the CAR. Please remember that there are more NGOs, POs and CSOs around than agencies in the public sector. This is the most efficient and effective way of reaching the widest majority of the people. This honest-to-goodness, private sector-led information drive at the outset should spell out what speakers tend to achieve. The objective must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. It is as simple as that.
It is worthy to point out that NGOs, POs and CSOs should be tapped as “duty bearers” in promoting the autonomy cause. It’s time for politicians to step aside. Consequently, the people will troop to the polls and decide on this matter in possibly third and last plebiscite.
Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Processes (OPAPP) head Jesus Dureza raised the need for the people of the CAR to “speak loudly or make noise” in order to elevate the autonomy’s clamor to a higher level.
Not surprisingly, Secretary Dureza stressed the fact that it is the right of the Cordillera people to have their own ARC.
What is true of the action taken by President Duterte as well as former President Noynoy Aquino in certifying as urgent bills related to the creation of a Bangsamoro autonomous region in Mindanao is similarly true for the pending bills on the Cordillera autonomy concern in Congress. Congress passed recently the Bangsamoro Organic Law. This development well illustrates how the strong backing of the Palace works and matters in the legislative mill. In evolving the manner of resolving the autonomy problem in the CAR then, the problems of its proponents here are similar to the problems then of Muslim Filipinos in southern Philippines.
The targets are the certification of urgency from Malacanang, passage of the House and Senate bills and nod of the voters in a plebiscite. Chief backers of the autonomy quest said that legislated action by Congress can do just that for pushing their efforts to a positive hilt. The challenge, of course, is overcoming the fact that congressmen and senators are set to file their certificate-of-candidacies (CoCs) from October 1 to 4 of this year thus, forcing them to stay in their districts (for representatives) and countless provinces (for senators) thereafter and bringing to forth the problem of not mustering a quorum at the House or at the Senate. Likewise, there are two scheduled long recess breaks of Congress, namely: the so-called Halloween break for November 1 commemoration of all-Souls Day and Christmas season break in December. Moreover, both chambers of the legislative wing of the government have to tackle a number of important measures such as the General Appropriations Act of 2019 or the national budget and the TRAIN 2 Act. Least it be forgotten, that President Duterte himself is moving heaven and earth for the passage of bills in Congress outlining the shift to a federal form of government from the unitary or presidential type. Much of the tedious work will be done in the lengthy deliberations at the House and at the Senate. Any call to expedite the discussions at committee hearings and at other key stages of the legislative process is largely wishful thinking. This in turn is expected to delay the passage of the autonomy bill. Unpassed due to circumstances beyond their control, the autonomy bill has to be refiled in the next Congress. In other words, it is back to step 1 all over again. For short, even in the ranks of avid autonomy advocates they’re fully aware of the fact that time is not on their side.
Efforts to achieve the autonomy goal are also thwarted by many other factors such as indifference and the so-called dialect divide among indigenous peoples (IPs).
A supporter of President Duterte and key leader of the cooperative movement in Ifugao told the ZigZag Weekly, “autonomy in the Cordillera shall pave the way for development of the region and create the roadmap that is critical to ensure better delivery of basic services to the people.”
Godfrey Dominong, general manager of the 7,000-strong Ifugao Global Entrepreneurs Multi-purpose Cooperative (IGEMCO) emphasized that “once the Cordillera transforms itself into an autonomous region it will greatly contribute to the expansion of the nation’s economic prosperity through the provision of employment opportunities and generation of investments.”
Dominong, also the president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)-Ifugao Chapter, is presently finalizing plans to help in the information education campaign on the autonomy and federalism issues in his capacity as a key figure in the province’s private sector. He arrived at this decision to deal with what were left to be urgent national and regional problems of people’s dissatisfaction on the control of resources by the so-called “Imperial Manila” government. His other concerns are turning around Ifugao towns’ poor economies and checking the mounting unemployment problem. Dominong is a resident of Lagawe, capital town long classified as a fourth-class municipality. Many are poor and jobless.
Many of the folks in Lagawe, most especially those in remote villages, said they were not knowledgeable or aware of House Bill 5343 or Senate Bills 2018 and 1923. Priorities should be pinpointed and decided. Action plans in the private sector, if any, should be implemented at the soonest time. There is no time to waste.
Barely four weeks or so since attending an autonomy forum in Baguio City, Mr. Dominong is now willing and ready to answer the clarion call of duty in enlightening the people on the merits of the autonomy bills in Congress.,
And he’s just one of the many respected voices of the autonomy cause in this part of the CAR.
Of great importance indeed is the role of the leaders of the private sector in pushing the autonomy cause in the Cordillera. With so much at stake, that as the 2019 midterm polls approach, it is vital to ensure that the enthusiasm of some private sector leaders doesn’t ebb down or diminish overnight when the leadership changes. But no one seemed to mind the seeming incongruity and hypocrisy. At the plush Century Park Hotel in Malate, Manila where top honchos in Cordillera’s political landscape converged, the gathering is, after all, billed as the “Leaders’ Forum with the Senators on Cordillera Autonomy.”
From the strategic point of point of any well-meaning independent analyst, the highly-charged proceedings and elaborate cultural presentations at a five-star hotel in the metropolis were meant to mobilize a group of elite leaders in the political scene in drawing the attention and support of highly-placed senators, most of them staking their fortunes in next year’s elections.
There are leaders in the political, economic and social spheres. Economic and social leaders of the CAR have persuasive reasons to get along with the senators too. They can help a lot to tackle the most pressing challenges of the times in so far as the autonomy issue is concerned. Lack of information and apathy are setbacks to the autonomy move. The proactive approach is to find ways to make sure that people’s sentiments are heard loud and clear. Something as simple as having another undertaking for leaders of NGOs, POs and CSOs with the Senators brings so much dignity and joy to these hardworking and dedicated leaders of a resource-rich but impoverished region. In fact, it is reflective of the spirit and intent of genuine autonomy. The campaign to realize the autonomy dream in the CAR is gaining ground so the government should now work closely with the leaders of the private sector. The involvement of both the public and private sectors will surely enhance the pursuit of a collective approach in achieving this longstanding objective. Get them all on board! **By Anthony A. Araos
