Bid for Cordillera autonomy persists

BLOOD RITUAL A native ritual priest displays blood from a sacrificial animal to proclaim good tidings from their ancestors during the celebration of the 25th founding anniversary of the Cordillera Administrative Region in Baguio City. EV ESPIRITU / INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Political leaders of the Cordillera gathered here on Sunday to celebrate the 25th founding anniversary of the upland region with one goal in mind—win an uphill battle to convince people that the region deserved a third try at achieving full autonomy.

The largest contingent of local officials (180) came from Apayao, a province in the Cordillera Administrative Region, which was created on July 15, 1987, by President Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino.

The leaders endorsed a manifesto of support for a third autonomy bid to present this when they meet with Mr. Aquino.

Virgilio Bautista, co-chair of the Regional Development Council, said the manifesto and results of survey done this month would provide Mr. Aquino with evidence of Cordilleran solidarity behind two bills—House Bill No. 5595 and Senate Bill No. 3115—that would enact a third organic act creating the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

Mr. Aquino has yet to make known his sentiments on Cordillera autonomy after he aggressively pushed reforms in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The manifesto states: “We, Cordillerans, imploring the aid of divine providence, exercising our fundamental and constitutional right to self-determination, faithful to the pursuit of our forebears for the defense, protection, conservation and development of our patrimony and cultural heritage, in order to secure for ourselves and our posterity a region of peace and prosperity founded on truth, freedom, justice, love and human solidarity through a regional autonomous government that shall ensure our human rights, our human development, and our active participation as citizens in the affairs of a united Philippine state, do support the creation and establishment of a Cordillera Autonomous Region.”

No date has been set for the dialogue with Mr. Aquino. The new autonomy measures were drafted 14 years after two organic acts failed to win support in plebiscites held in 1990 and 1998. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon