Quest for Cordillera autonomy

The establishment of a Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), mandated by the Philippine Constitution, is still a continuing quest. It does not have to be achieved through “militancy” or a “protracted war” against government. Completed studies on the effects of armed conflict in the Cordillera tell us that it is the innocent villagers and their communities who have suffered the most, not counting the fallen combatants. Lumauig seems to be unaware that the quest for regional autonomy in the Cordillera did not “sleep the sleep of the dead.” It is very much alive and kicking.

In fact, I was about to share my thoughts on the topic, “Communicating Regional Autonomy and Development” in a two-day speaker’s training in Bontoc, the capital town of Mountain Province, last May 26 and 27, when the secretariat showed me his commentary. There were 49 participants, mostly young blood. They represented barangays of Barlig, Bontoc, Paracelis, Sadanga and Tadian, five of the 10 towns of Mountain Province. The training seminar was part of the continuing information/education campaign (IEC) on regional autonomy and development initiated several years ago by the regional development council of the CAR. I should know because I am the present chair of the IEC Task Force in my home province. Similar IEC activities are being conducted in other Cordillera provinces and cities.

Aside from the IEC, a course on the cultural, economic, environmental, historical, political and social aspects of the quest for regional autonomy and development is now offered in the undergraduate and graduate schools of the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College. I am one of those teaching the related subjects. Part of the greater objective is to correct whatever distorted images the general population has of the “Igorot”—which means “people of the mountain.”

It is therefore not entirely correct to say that only the Bontok of Mountain Province are the Igorot. The present Mountain Province was called Bontoc when, together with its fellow co-subprovinces Benguet, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao, it was part of the old, much larger Mountain Province.

House Bill No. 4649 was refiled by the current House of Representatives members from the Cordillera on June 11, 2014. The lobbying for the passage of the bill has to be orderly, peaceful, factual and transparent. Mere speculation as to the intention of the bill could lead to division and deception. Older people like me have seen the worse of the martial law years. Why should a man of letters instigate a “protracted war” if only to be seen in the “radar” of the national government?

Regional autonomy has to be advocated as a means of granting the Cordillera peoples greater freedom to manage their internal affairs and their region’s resources. This does not mean secession. The five principles, drawn from the series of consultations on the 3rd Organic Act are clear on this.

—CLARO Q. ESOEN, PhD,

chair, MP IEC Task Force on Regional Autonomy,

claro-esoen@gmail.com