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“The path to Hell is paved with good intentions…”

The members of the third Autonomy Act drafting committee announced last Wednesday that the consultation is the last of the several and the resulting draft, after subjecting it to style and form, shall be submitted to Congress this month. This surprised several of those present as expressed through the discussions that ensued.

Facts show: the Constitution identified only two autonomous regions namely Mindanao and the Cordillera. So be it, until the Constitution shall cease to be or be amended. The drafting and enacting of the organic act is part of implementing this law. The process of coming up with that has no defined deadline. The people’s participation in the making and content of that organic act is crucial.

Some members of the drafting committee believe that the current administration of Pres. Noynoy Aquino is the best time to get the organic act approved. There were even irresponsible threats made over the media that this is the last chance; or only provinces that will vote Yes shall be included in the autonomous region; or with the organic act, the region can get more funds from national; etc. These were the same ideas and strategies used in the first two organic acts which were rejected by the Cordillerans.

It appears “like a motley group of petty bourgeois intellectuals simply decided to push an organic act for the Autonomous region of the Cordillera to congress this month”.

The present draft, especially in the form and content, agitated the “shy mango” i-Benguet who got peaked and articulated it very well. Besides knowing why the earlier organic acts lost both plebiscites, they saw the same weaknesses showing up again. It is no wonder people decided to “Itonomi” (to sear over direct fire) both proposed organic acts, and there is no indication they will not do the same for this third draft.

One Benguet Vice Mayor informed this consultation that Dalupirip, host of the San Roque dam is entitled by law to P1.4 million in natural wealth tax. It was recently given only P54,000 and a new government order to explain that was all they can have. Although maybe thought to be irrelevant by the presidium, it is a graphic example of the kind of respect and recognition the national government has for indigenous peoples’ right to their ancestral domain and resources. This diminution of income is not only true for Benguet or Mountain Province but the people of the autonomous region, “is there some protection from arbitrary actions like this in the organic act?”

While the facilitators reminded the gathering several times that the comments and opinions for inclusion in the draft has been gathered from all over the region and integrated into the present draft, representatives from the local government units (LGUs) and three or four line agencies tried to point out it was not so. Officials of Benguet said the province was trying to catch up but not to rush the drafting of the third organic act to simply be derailed again. They just had nothing to show their people that this version of regional autonomy was a better option. They have to win the support of their constituents with this proposal. In its present state, they can not even convince their congressman that it has the people’s support so he can be proud and confident to sponsor and lobby for its passage in Congress.

It was unanimous by the silence of the audience, that the draft presented then shall be updated to include what has been raised the past months. It shall finally be the working draft to be printed out and used as a basis to start the education and information campaign on regional autonomy; consultations shall continue to improve the draft. Still the facillitators pushed that a final draft be finished by the end of July on the culmination of the Cordillera month celebration and submitted to Congress.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the several indigenous peoples organizations and their advocates in the country and all over the globe will be celebrating the United Nations declared International Indigenous Peoples Day in August. Whether to praise or criticize the final draft, that day presents the opportunity. Real thinking people, not only from the ranks of the petty bourgeois, in their numbers shall surely feast on that draft on that significant day. # nordis.net