BAGUIO CITY, March 09 – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said autonomy grassroots consultations is the responsibility of everyone who understands the real essence of self-governance and that it should not be made an excuse to derail the passage of the enabling law in Congress.
“House Bill 5595 which is authored by five Cordillera lawmakers and had hurdled the committee level in the House of Representatives should serve as the basis of grassroots consultations to be conducted in the different parts of the region by responsible local officials and interest groups. Its passage into law should not be derailed by the interest of a few who are obviously against autonomy because of patriarchal concerns,” he stressed, adding that results of consultations could be incorporated in the measure anytime in order to satisfy the wishes of concerned sectors.
According to him, the contents of HB 5595 were culled from the inputs of a series of provincial, city and municipal consultations done region-wide by responsible and dedicated local officials and volunteers who painstakingly participated in numerous sessions conducted by the drafting committee to come out with a consolidated version acceptable to almost all sectors.
Domogan cited the bill will serve as a basis of the consultations to be conducted in the different provinces, municipalities and barangays and the results will also serve as the basis on what are the amendments to be introduced in order to help satisfy the clamor of the greater majority of Cordillerans for autonomy.
The chairman of the Third Autonomy Drafting Committee (TADC) said it is unfair for some officials to allege that there was no proper consultations done before the finalizing the contents of the pending bill considering that there were sufficient consultations done as shown by the records of the TADC and the Regional Development Council (RDC).
“Instead of insisting on our parochial interests, let us continue performing our duties to consult our people on autonomy and not to sabotage our efforts to achieve regional autonomy,” he said, citing active involvement and participation should be mandatory among local officials to avoid sowing confusion among people that will affect the renewed quest for self-governance.
Earlier, the House committee on local governments approved at the committee level HB 5595 which seeks to create the Cordillera Autonomous Region pursuant to the provision of the 1987 Constitution that mandates the creation of autonomous regions in the Cordillera and in Muslim Mindanao.
“If some provinces like Mountain Province, Kalinga, Ifugao and Baguio City were able to conduct consultations relative to the renewed quest for regional autonomy, why can’t other provinces do the same so that their conscience will be clear that they have done their part to listen to the plight of their constituents,” Domogan said, citing that achieving autonomy will not benefit the present generation but instead will benefit of “our children and our children’s children.”
Domogan challenged concerned sectors to emulate the initiatives undertaken by the private sector to do their own consultation with their respective sectors and come out with valid issues and concerns that must be addressed by the autonomy bill.
In a related development, some expressed fear of the possible regionwide rejection of the third attempt to establish an autonomous region for the Cordillera is feared following the recent approval of the third autonomy draft that was approved in toto in “no less than five minutes” by the committee on local government in congress last month.
This recent development caused Benguet leaders led by Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan and Governor Nestor B. Fongwan, together with members of the provincial board, municipal mayors and other concerned citizens to meet last week and strategize massive grassroots consultations to avert possible rejection.
Cosalan said he has written the committee in congress to reconsider its move saying “the committee can not just simply give five minutes to a bill that will affect the future life of hundreds of thousands of Cordillerans.”
A meeting was scheduled in congress where amendments to HB 5595, the Cordillera Autonomy Act, may be inserted by Cosalan and Abra Rep. Joy Bernos before plenary discussions and final approval on the floor.
“Rep. Bernos and I stressed that we are not against autonomy or against the bill but we want to introduce amendments before any plenary discussion,” Cosalan added.
The Benguet Capitol meeting chaired by Vice Governor Crescencio C. Pacalso was attended by autonomy advocates Dr. Gil Bautista, co-chair of the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC), and former Vice Governor Edna C. Tabanda, RDC private sector representative.
Fongwan said he was thinking all along that the bill will be discussed in the committee level but was also surprised why it was approved in toto.
“Just like Congressman Cosalan, I also fear that the bill might be rejected again that is why I agree with him that we should put provisions advantageous to Benguet, consult the grassroots and not only a few, before it is put to a plebiscite,” Fongwan said.
For the provincial board members, they expressed the common observation that two past plebiscites overwhelmingly rejected the autonomy bills simply because the people have not read the provisions.
Some Benguet provincial and municipal officials in the meeting also gave a parallel personal observation that based on their limited survey, if no widespread public consultation will be conducted, the bill will be rejected in Baguio City, Mtn. Province, Abra, and even in Kalinga.
Asked about what would happen to the provinces that would not opt to join an autonomous region, Cosalan said, Section 163b that says the provinces that will vote unfavorably in the plebiscite will revert back to their mother regions, “serves as a threat to Cordillerans more than a uniting force.”
“I will introduce an amendment to that provision so that those who will not opt for autonomy can constitute a regular region. If that provision can not be amended, I will file another bill to that effect to give a choice to Cordillerans,” Cosalan explained.
On the other hand, RDC co-chair Dr. Bautista who agreed that more grassroots consultations should be conducted said, the RDC chose regional autonomy as the more positive move that would boost development in the region because the Cordillera always received the smallest budget share from the national government.
“Budget allocation for the regions was always based on population. In addition, our priorities in the region were not being followed (by the national government),” Bautista informed the body, explaining further that development would be faster in a regional autonomous set up.
He clarified that the budgetary provision for a P10 billion annual budget for the first five years and P5 billion annual budget allocation for the next five years were “not picked out of the blue.”
Cosalan meanwhile said, other regions would be affected and would surely complain if a big chunk of money will be cut from the national budget
But Bautista explained, “these are the same amounts allocated to the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). If Mindanao deserves P10billion annually from the national government, why don’t we deserve it?”
**By Dexter See and March Fianza
