By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The regional office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED-CAR) conducted a teachers’ seminar last week on the use of a guide for teaching Cordillera regional autonomy in the tertiary level.

Cordillera Autonomy laws were rejected in 1990 and in the 1998 plebiscites. Teaching Cordillera autonomy, however, is not to campaign for a yes or no for autonomy.

The teachers module has seven references where reasons of those in favor or against autonomy are cited, explained Dr. Lorelie C. Mendoza, a speaker at the seminar held at the University of the Cordilleras Auditorium.

Aiming to broaden information and education, the seminar was conducted to orient teachers on the basic issues of Cordillera regional autonomy and how to use the module, added Mendoza. The module will be produced by the Regional Development Council (RDC) of the Cordillera Adminstrative Region.

The general contents of the module are: the introduction, historical perspective, cultural perspective, legal foundation, political argument, adminstrative argument, fiscal/economic argument, and conclusion, said Mendoza, a professor of the University of the Philippines College Baguio, who systematized and organized the references from various authors.

The module was proposed to be integrated in social science subjects and NSTP hence the participants of the seminar were teachers in the said fields from various institutions in the region.

The 1986 Constitution incorporated provisions on autonomy for the Cordilleras and Muslim Mindanao. The history of how these provisions were incorporated in the constitution are also included in the references, added Mendoza.

Only Mindanao, with some provinces including that ruled by the Ampatuans, was able to approve an autonomy law in a plebiscite.

As the said contitutional provisions are contained in the 1987 Constitution, Congress can enact another law for the Cordillera autonomy.

The activity was co-sponsored by NEDA-CAR and the University of the Cordilleras. # nordis.net