38 years since historic ‘sipat,’ Cordillera still awaits autonomy

SIPAT Shortly after the ouster of then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in a bloodless revolution in February 1986, his successor Corazon Aquino pursued peace talks with rebel priest Conrado Balweg by submitting to a traditional “sipat,” or a ceremonial cessation of hostilities, which involved the exchange of tokens on Sept. 13, 1986. The negotiations at Mt. Data in Bauko, Mountain Province, led to the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987. —PHOTO FROMTHE FILES OF JOEL ARTHUR TIBALDO

BAGUIO CITY—Close to 40 years since the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) was first created, autonomy remains an elusive dream for the local governments comprising the region.

With no government funding to make the autonomous region a reality, a group of legal, political and financial experts in the mountain region has been reviewing the latest measures on how to make CAR operational, in view of the 2023 position paper issued by the country’s fiscal managers that the government could not yet afford a second autonomous government, according to discussions by the Regional Development Council (RDC) on Thursday.

House Bill No. 3267 would require the national government to subsidize a 10-year “block grant” of P75 billion, which would go to high-impact projects that would jump-start the economies of Baguio City and the provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga, Abra, Apayao, Benguet and Mountain Province.

READ: New Cordillera autonomy bill under study

These provincial governments make up CAR, which the late President Corazon Aquino formed on July 15, 1987, through Executive Order No. 220.

But because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that reduced national government revenues when it expanded the tax share of local governments, the national government may only be ready to shoulder the CAR’s financial requirements by 2029, according to a joint evaluation rendered last year by Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Socioeconomic Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and then Finance Secretary (and now Monetary Board member) Benjamin Diokno.

A Cordillera technical working group (TWG) led by law dean John Ray Libiran of the University of Baguio has been examining the proposed Cordillera regional bureaucracy and programs outlined in the measure.

The TWG has yet to recommend changes to HR 3267, according to officials who attended the RDC session that was held behind closed doors.

But during its meeting in August, the TWG found provisions in the draft law that translate to “double funding,” which may need to be deleted or amended. They also proposed that the transition period, which “corresponds to the annual financial assistance from the national government,” be shortened.

Cessation of hostilities

The RDC meeting took place on the eve of the 38th commemoration of the “sipat,” the Sept. 13, 1986 indigenous cessation of hostilities between rebel priest Conrado Balweg and Mrs. Aquino that paved the way for the first peace talks following the 1986 People Power Revolution.

The peace ritual that was undertaken at Mount Data in Bauko town, Mountain Province, required an exchange of tokens.

Balweg, who led the militia Cordillera People’s Liberation Army, had broken away from the New People’s Army to advocate for Cordillera autonomy.

He gave Mrs. Aquino and then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, a spear, shield, bolo knife and an axe. In return, the Aquino administration gifted him with an assault rifle, a Bible and a rosary.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the presidential adviser on peace, reconciliation and unity, said the sipat has lasted undisturbed for nearly 40 years despite the Cordillera’s struggle to achieve autonomy.

“We want [the Cordillera] to remain peaceful until the next administration,” he said at this year’s anniversary program at Bauko.

While waiting for the autonomy law, the highland region could benefit from an “inter-Cabinet cluster for the transformation of the Cordillera,” Galvez said, which he intends to form as “testament to the partnership, trust and respect nurtured between [the government and the upland communities] for almost four decades.”

Mandate

Section 15, Article X of the 1987 Constitution pushes for the creation of autonomous regions for the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao where Filipinos share “common and distinctive historical and cultural heritage, economic and social structures.” Only Muslim Mindanao has fulfilled that mandate with the 2010 Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, and the expanded Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao of 2019.