Hope dims for the creation of an Igorot region

VICTORY POSTPONED Thirty-four years ago, the late President Corazon Aquino and slain rebel priest Conrado Balweg agreed on a “sipat” (cessation of hostility) on Sept. 13, 1986,which paved the way for the first peace talks after the 1986 People Power Revolution that led to the formation of the Cordillera Administrative Region. That account is part of a book, “A Victory Postponed,”which was launched in 2017 in this stock photo. —VINCENT CABREZA

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Saying the flame could burn out soon for those pushing for Cordillera autonomy, regional leaders called for support for a third proposal seeking to create a “Kaigorotan” (Igorot nation) region.

Ifugao Rep. Solomon Chungalao on Sunday said “time was running out” and there might be no more chance to rekindle the passion for Cordillera autonomy.

Chungalao made the remarks during the 34th celebration of the “sipat” (ceasefire), which ended the rebellion led by former rebel priest Conrado Balweg in 1986.

The sipat was held at Mt. Data in Bauko town, Mountain Province, on Sept. 13, 1986. Balweg gave then President Corazon Aquino tribal weapons such as a spear and a shield, as peace tokens. Aquino, in return, gave him a Bible and rosary.

Congress passed two laws creating the Cordillera Autonomous Region after Aquino formed an administrative region in 1987 to draw together the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Abra and what used to be Kalinga-Apayao. But these were rejected by residents in plebiscites held in 1990 and 1998.Cordillera lawmakers then filed House Bill No. 5343, which sought the establishment of the Cordillera Autonomous Region, in March 2017 during the first regular session of the 17th Congress.

Third attempt

It was the third attempt to establish an organic act for the Cordillera, one of two autonomous regions set in the 1987 Constitution. The other is the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has evolved into the now functioning Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The latest autonomy measure focuses on economic powers, which will allow the region to tap its ancestral resources and improve lives of people, especially the Igorot, Chungalao said. —VINCENT CABREZA INQ