FOR a long while, I've been ruminating on the nature of unity in our communities. I believe it started when I became a member of the drafting committee of House Bill 5343, a proposed bill for the renewed push for autonomy in the Cordillera. That was almost a decade ago, today. For months on end, we deliberated and debated on a myriad of issues that would make stakeholders (diverse peoples) in their communities and territories become one.
During and after this exercise, that lasted several months, I became more aware of how this quest for unity and regional autonomy is a daunting task.
As we deliberated and shaped the bill, whether the topic was focused on policies and principles, economics, politics, the area of the region to matters of faith, family, development and peace and order, there was discord that on occasions led to feuding.
The good thing with this group is that when it comes to discord on the issues, it did not affect how we drank our coffee and ate our lunch. It is easy to talk with people you agree with these people with their strong opinions always returned to the discussion table, in spite of our differences, to complete the work expected of us together. In spite of us, we are good people who must find ways to see each other eye to eye and just get along. The House Bill is not an online document teeming with vitriol, but agreement and unity in thoughts, intents, purposes, and pursuits.
The pursuit of unity among human beings is not new. Anyone who has lived side by side with others knows that the act of splintering relationships is easy and pursuing unity is hard and tricky. The pursuit is an all-too-familiar dilemma especially in our age of divisive political, religious, ethnic, and ideological views.
More than three decades after the issuance of Executive Order 220 (1987) creating the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the quest for autonomy as mandated by the Constitution has yet to be realized. But while the delay should bother us all, I am still grateful for what this quest has accomplished for regional unity, peace, and development.
In our session last week, as members of the Neda-RDC Social Preparation for a Cordillera Autonomous Region (SPCAR), I wondered aloud about the impossibility of capturing the favorable opinion of more than a million Cordillerans, and of course the Filipino nation in one document, House Bill 5687, the updated version of House Bill 5343. I was reacting to an observation on the qualifications of the drafters of the House Bills and by inference the inadequacy of the documents as the basic law for the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera (ARC).
Hon. Thomas Killip, former Mayor of Sagada, Mountain Province who has faithfully joined our sessions on autonomy surprised me with his remarks, as he declared that those who advocate for "genuine autonomy" like there is such "a perfect autonomy" for the region and its people do not understand the characteristic diversity of thoughts, beings, communities and abodes in the Cordillera. To pursue and enforce such an idea is not natural or normal, and would require a totalitarian government.
Still, we need to have the ideal and practical-minded men and women among us in the SPCAR constantly colliding to have balance and acceptable comprises in our proposals for the united autonomous region.
Meanwhile, I think about the remarks of Secretary William Dar of the Department of Agriculture (DA), when I asked him about his position on the quest for autonomy in the Cordillera. His remarks were not different from the other high government officials who were asked the same question. He supports autonomy for the Cordillera as long as it is what the people want.
As an administrative region in preparation for an autonomous one, the government has already invested much towards its development compared to when it was not yet segregated from Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley.
But the youth do not know that. The majority of the voting population today are young and may have not seen and experienced the environment and setting when the quest for autonomy in the region was birthed, born, and pursued in earnest, according to Ms. Karin Codiase Bangsoy.
With an M.A. in Political Science from Ateneo, she reminded us that it is high time her age mates (18-39 years old) should be educated on the Cordillera's history, development, and its quest for autonomy.
I agree. That is why I keep on talking about unity in the production and marketing of agricultural commodities, about why river basins and watershed are marked by unity, about why in the Cordillera vegetable, heirloom rice and coffee businesses, the art of uniting and blending makes good sense.
Cordillera agriculture is basically smallholder, and uniting the growers into federated growers and marketing cooperatives and associations are recommended to create viable livelihood enterprises and economies of scale.
To do this and ensure the widest benefits accruing for the growers and consumers of Cordillera-grown farm products, the DA implements several projects that promote the unity of producers and consolidation of their products. The same interventions also facilitated the delivery of services to develop and enhance the region's agricultural commodity production, processing, and marketing.
The agency's interventions under its regular programs and special projects on mobilization, infrastructure, and livelihood were all meant to support and ensure the sustainability of municipal, provincial and regional producers' groups and their industry service providers.
The pursuit of uniting the producers, their products, and the implementation of development support and services towards the development of cohesive and profitable agricultural enterprises is still being strengthened under the current leadership of the DA. Without a regional DA office in the Cordillera, I wonder how we could have a body of local experts trained to take on the challenge and services that the government wants to deliver as needed by the local populace.
At the DA-CAR, I know we can yet develop more local expertise to make a value chain analysis for the region's farm commodities addressing current concerns, understanding experiences, and existing knowledge, making recommendations for the generation of new information as practices are evaluated from the production, processing, marketing, and consumption of commodities. All these lead to the preparation of a general, detailed, and unified development plan of action.
It also signals the start of activities that may provide more details about the implementation of interventions and projects by the agency and its partners.
In science and by all evidence, the drive toward unity is the primary impetus behind many scientific endeavors. In Physics, it was reported to be fruitful and an effective tool.
The parameters for the drive for unity in development project management and implementation may differ but the aspiration and yes, the benefits for better human existence are the same.
We may be physically tired from our pursuits for unity in these mountains but let it not be said that we have given up our aspirations and hope for regional autonomy, genuine or otherwise, for as long as it is good for the majority of the people.