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The resounding success of the 39th People’s Cordillera Day commemoration in the country and abroad speaks volumes on why this annual event led by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) and indigenous peoples’ communities remains the proper celebration of the Cordillera peoples’ right to self-determination, defense of ancestral land, and pursuit of genuine regional autonomy.
From April 16 to 28, the beating of the gongs reverberated from the plains of Metro Manila to the rugged Cordillera mountains. Indigenous peoples’ rights advocates and allies of the Cordillera mass movement from the United States (Hawaii and San Francisco) and Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) also held simultaneous gatherings.
The festive mood in all the events reminds us that despite the relentless attacks against activists and human rights defenders in the region, there is still much to celebrate. Aside from the legal victories against the trumped-up cases filed against activists and human rights defenders in the region, CPA was able to hold decentralized celebrations notwithstanding the red-tagging and persona non grata campaign by the government.
Unlike the other Cordillera Day celebrated by the government every July 15, the origin of the April 24 event does not reside on paper and bureaucratic orders. It is a testament to the collective courage, sacrifice and resourcefulness, a tradition borne out of the Cordillera people’s defense of land, life, and resources. It is a memorialization of our collective memories.
The former represents the day President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order 220 in 1987, creating the Cordillera Administrative Region. Officials of local and regional government offices drumbeat the July 15 declaration as ‘Cordillera Day’ in the succeeding administrations, along with the promise of autonomy that never materialized.
They also commemorated the September 13, 1986, ‘sipat’ (peace accord) between the government and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), a breakaway group that left the New People’s Army and turned its guns against the progressive Cordillera movement. The group eventually turned into a government paramilitary force unleashed against activists and communities in the region.
President after president in the post-Martial Law period turned a blind eye to CPLA atrocities, which include the murders of CPA leaders and members Ama Daniel Ngayaan, Romy Gardo, and Christopher Batan. The group is also behind the killing of Ayangwa Claver, son of human rights lawyer and CPA founding chair William’ Billy’ Claver, Ferdinand Bragas, and Robert Estimada of the Development Agency of Tribes in the Cordillera.
And through the years, the two dates have been declared as special non-working holidays, giving it a semblance of being ‘official’ and flashpoints of the Cordillera region’s bid for self-governance. Yet, they continue to fail to rally support for government-backed and dubiously designed “regional autonomy”. The people, for various reasons, rejected the so-called organic laws during the 1990 and 1998 plebiscites, while the succeeding legislative attempts failed to hurdle Congress. Meanwhile, the present version of the legislation has been judged to lack the principles of autonomy conceived by the Cordillera people.
Meanwhile, the April 24 Cordillera Day started as a day of remembrance and call for justice for the death of Butbut pangat (tribal chieftain) and leader of the anti-Chico dams struggle, Macliing Dulag. Government soldiers murdered Dulag on April 24, 1980.
Called the Macliing Memorial from 1981 to 1984, the event was renamed Cordillera Day in 1985 in recognition of the growing inter-tribal unity and the broadening campaign against destructive projects, resource plunder, and human rights violations in the region.
Through the years, this April event helped to spearhead regional campaigns against destructive projects designed to benefit giant foreign corporate interests. It served as an annual venue to assess and reflect on ongoing struggles and community-led socioeconomic programs, and a celebration of the people’s gains and victories.
The People’s Cordillera Day has endured the test of time and challenges through the commitment and support of different organizations and communities. The event continued beyond the passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, because despite this law, government policies and State-backed destructive projects continue to threaten the survival of indigenous peoples’ communities in the region.
It has gained recognition, not because of an imperator from the government, but through the people’s assertion to remember the lives of Cordillera heroes and martyrs and amplify the continuing struggle for the right to self-determination. And, at this point, everyone should be reminded that these rights of indigenous peoples to land and autonomy are meant to benefit not just the few, but the collective whole, especially the small farmers, craft workers, shop helpers, drivers, haulers, and all who eke out their livelihood with the sweat of their brows.
Thirty-nine years later, Cordillera Day, celebrated every April, remains a story of political awakening and the growing Cordillera consciousness as a region struggling to protect its communities, culture and resources against state-backed plunder and aggression. It is self-determination in its real practical sense, an assertion of identity, self-governance and community empowerment beyond what a paper can give. # nordis.net
