THERE is still hope for the passage of Cordillera's autonomy.
Dr. Virgilio Bautista, former federalism commissioner and Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) business sector representative, stressed this during a recent forum, saying he still sees a bright prospect in the region's quest for autonomy.
"The fact that President (Rodrigo) Duterte has always emphasizes independence and strengthening of local governments, I think our autonomy efforts are just in place. We still hope because of the refilling of Bayanihan Federalism, this will still assist in the quest for Cordillera autonomy or in other words, there is still hope for our autonomy to be pursued with more congressmen in the lower house and the senators who are in favor of granting autonomy," Bautista said.
On September 13, the region marks the commemoration of "Sipat," an indigenous ritual that was preliminary to the forging of peace pact among Cordillera tribes.
Now on its 33rd year, the Mount Data peace accord of the 1986 was a peace talk between the government and the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA).
The 1986 Mount Data Sipat Agreement was the first peace agreement successfully entered into by the National Government during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino.
The CPLA, led by Fr. Conrado Balweg, heeded the call for peace by Aquino through the forging of a Sipat, which allowed both sides to begin negotiating peace, leading to the issuance of Executive Order 220 on July 15, 1987, which created the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Bautista believes that since it is the duty of Cordillera congressmen to draft and make laws pursuant to the needs of Cordillerans, specific details will have to be discussed prior to the filing of a third organic act for the region.
"The sentiments of our congressmen are that they are in favor of autonomy and it is only the details that they are only questioning, and the answer to that is that it's their work, they are supposed to craft what they believe is best for our Cordillera right now. If you recall, there were many other drafts before but many of this were overtaken by other laws," Bautista added.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)-Cordillera gathered last August autonomy advocates for a two-day workshop on strategies to effectively campaign for the passage of the Cordillera autonomy bill in the 18th Congress.
The RDC also approved a communication plan and roadmap for achieving autonomy.
Milagros Rimando, RDC vice-chair and Neda-Cordillera director, noted that there is a lot of work to be done especially in raising awareness and support for Cordillera autonomy, both in the grassroots and the national level.