Batasan,Quezon City January 18 – Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri assured Cordillera autonomy advocates that he will personally file in the Senate the counterpart bill of House Bill (HB) 5343 or the bill that seeks to establish the Autonomous Region in the Cordillera to allow its simultaneous deliberation with the Palace version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Zubiri, who was put on speaker phone by Presidential Adviser on the Peace process Jesus G. Dureza during Wednesday’s 1st Congressional Forum on Cordillera Autonomy spearheaded by the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) in partnership with the Cotabato-based Institute of Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and the Congressional Policy and Budget Reform Department, admitted that various autonomy advocates from the region had visited him previously regarding the matter and that he will eventually file the counterpart autonomy bill in the Senate once he will be provided a copy of the similar bill filed in the House of Reprewsentatives by all the Cordillera lawmakers.
Aside from awaiting for the certification from President Rodrigo R. Duterte that the Cordillera autonomy bill is one of the priority legislative measures of the present administration, Secretary Dureza asserted that autonomy advocates from the region must sustain the strong lobby in both chambers to have the bill discussed in the committee level, assuring the Cordillera leaders present that he will talk to Soutch Cotabato 1st district Rep. Pedro Acahron Jr., chairman of the House committee on local government, to have the bill calendared for immediate committee action.
“We must take advantage of the enabling environment provided by the President for us to pursue our quest for self-determination. The road to sustainable peace is really rough but we have to find our way through in pushing for the establishment of the long overdue autonomous region in the Cordillera,” Dureza, who is an adopted son of the Cordillera and was given the name ‘Mensapit’ or peacemaker, stressed.
He pointed out that he is still banking on the assurance made by the President during the first-ever meeting of Cordillera leaders with him in the Palace last July 18, 2017 that he will certify the Cordillera autonomy bill as an urgent administration measure bgecause the President is aware that one of the vehicles to jumpstart rural development is to empower the people in the countryside to have a stake in governance through the granting of autonomous status to the regions recognized in the 1987 Constitution.
The Palace official challenged the Cordillera leaders not to be disappointed by the delayed issuance of the certification from the President that the autonomy bill is an urgent legislation but instead use available avenues to gain the necessary mileage that will compel lawmakers to take a look on the matter and have it approved in both chambers.
Dureza emphasized that the Duterte administration is the right time to achieve autonomy because of the support shown by no less than the President for the empowerment of local governments to realize growth and development in the countryside.
In a related development, Muslim leaders committed their all-out support to the passage of House Bill (HB) 5343 or the pending bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to establish the Autonomous Region in the Cordillera (ARC) to sustain efforts to preserve and protect the rich culture and traditions of the indigenous peoples (IPs) in the region.
House Deputy Speaker and Maguindanao 1st District Rep. Bai Sandra A. Sema, who personally attended the 1st Congressional Forum on Cordillera Autonomy held Wednesday, underscored the Bangsamoro and the Cordillera share commonalities relative to the failure of the two areas in the country to be invaded by colonizers and the fact that the Muslims and the Cordillerans were able to preserve and protect their distinct culture and traditions for centuries.
While assuring the support of Muslim lawmakers to the passage of the Cordillera autonomy bill, Sema also solicited the support of Cordillera lawmakers to the enactment of the revised version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which was already filed in both chambers of Congress so that the two dinstinct areas will realize autonomous status way ahead of the planned shift to federal form of government by the present administration.
The Maguindanao lawmaker asserted that in the case of the Bangsamoro territory, it will remain as part of the Philippines contrary to the earlier proposal that seeks for independence and autonomy remains the best option to addres the historical injustices committed by the national government against the Muslims and the Cordillerans during the previous administrations.
“We join the clamor of our brothers and sisters in the Cordillera for the enactment of their proposed autonomy law side by side with the passage of the BBL so that we will be able to reap the fruits of the constitutional provision that mandates the establishment of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera,” Rep. Sema stressed.
Commissioner Jose Lorena, a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), offered the needed assistance to the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera for the conduct of small group discussions among autonomy advocates to share their best practices in working out the discussion of the proposed Cordillera autonomy bill and the BBL in both chambers of Congress.
He added that the realization of autonomy in Mindanao and the Cordillera will definitely contribute in enhancing the development potentials of the two areas in the country because they will have the chance to craft their own programs and projects beneficial to the greater majority of the populace with lesser restraint from outside forces because they better know the situation in their places compared to the leaders in the central government.
Commissioner Lorena said it will still be best for both chambers of Congress to deliberate on the Cordillera autonomy bill and the BBL simultaneously because it will be evident that the Cordillera autonomy bill is far less contentious compared to the BBL, thus, it must already be acted upon by the lawmakers.
The BTC official said that the proposed small group discussions among Muslim and autonomy advocates will definitely provide the crafting of the appropriate interventions on how to lobby in Congress for the immediate enactment of both laws way ahead of the planned shift to a federal form of government.**By Dexter A. See
