AN INTERIM group of members of the Cordillera Bodies, namely, Cordillera Regional Assembly (CRA), Cordillera Executive Board (CEB) and Cordillera Bodong Administration (CBA), continue to pursue their mandate to prepare the Cordillera for regional autonomy. They have been doing this without any fanfare despite their contrived deactivation by Executive Order (E.O.) 328, S. 2017, and the allotment of P1.00/annum budget by past administrations.
Fortunately for the said Bodies, no other than the Philippine Supreme Court categorically declared in the case of lawyer Atitiw et al. (G.R. No. 143374) that they exist and have never been abolished. They, with genuine members of the CPLA (Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army) and other Cordillera relative freedom fighters and regional developmental promoters, know they have taken their oath to go for autonomy of the Cordillera region. As ethnic Cordillerans, they are fully aware of what it means to raise one’s hand to take the oath which in the vernacular is the hair-raising “sapata”. The “sapata” is not just a part of a ceremony.
It is a solemn ritual to ensure the carrying out of the “sapata”; Bontoc ethnics, in particular, are model in wording the “sapata” and in the conviction as to its dire effects to oneself or bloodline if not fulfilled.
Today, the urgency of pushing this movement for Cordillera Autonomy along with the Federalism of the National Government is as fresh as it was dreamt of by fighters and advocates for developmental freedom. It is a pride to serve together as one arm to unite all Cordillerans of the constitutionally directed dream.
To start the ball rolling, therefore, according to the organizers, all are heartily invited to a gathering on July 1, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Municipal Gymnasium, La Trinidad, Benguet for a forum of information, deliberation or education and communication for the creation of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera (ARC), as so nomenclatured by House Bill (H.B.) No. 4649.
H.B. 4649 is the third bill prepared by the concerned Committee of the House of Representatives to be passed as the Organic Act that sets up the intended Cordillera autonomous region and government. The first two in the past were each rejected by the respective plebiscites to which they were subjected. The first passed for the Yes vote only in Apayao and the second, only in Ifugao. One province, however, was legally deemed as unable to be transformed to an autonomous region. Thus, the failure of both, and this third try would be the last chance.
When Secretary Jesus Dureza asked why “you still ask for autonomy when you rejected already two,” it was explained that it was not the idea of autonomy or relative independence that Cordillerans rejected but the organic acts that were supposed to establish the autonomous region for the reason that provisions they considered as conditions sine qua non were no-where to be found. He relented, like others, saying “Pati ako kung wala iyong gusto ko, bakit ko bobotohan.” (Me, too, why should I vote to agree if what I desire is not there.)
It was then sort of good that a No vote prevailed for a while to keep the region intact as one and not politically divided pending a possible refiling and re-plebiscite. However, this hoped-for third time is very crucial because it is the last chance. No fourth time. Come, therefore, let us hear one another and decide the future of upcoming Cordillerans, our children and children’s children!