IP rights group denounces PCGG dissolution

THE CORDILLERA Peoples Alliance denounces the lower house' abolition of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance through House Bill 7376 citing it as part of the 'historical revisionism' consistently peddled by the Duterte government to absolve the Marcoses of the atrocities and plunder they committed during their dictatorial reign.

"We abhor the crony Congress' dubious dissolution of the PCGG at a time when the Marcoses are creeping their way back to Malacanang. Such move only leaves a bitter taste in the mouth for all the martial law victims who continue to seek justice and indemnification, and will only serve the interests of the Marcos family, their cronies and President Duterte and his cohorts," said Bestang Dekdeken, Secretary-General of the CPA.

Dekdeken also cited the burial of Marcos in Libingan ng mga Bayani and Bongbong Marcos' quest to grab the vicepresidency as part of the payback scheme of President Duterte to the Marcoses who had supported his presidential campaign.

The CPA, which was founded during the last years of Marcos in Malacanang, had fought to oppose Marcos' anti-people flagship projects that would have destroyed the ancestral lands of the Igorots such as the Chico Dams project in Kalinga and Bontoc, and the Cellophil Resources Cor-

poration in Abra. "Many of our Cordillera heroes, including Macliing Dulag, were killed by state security forces in the struggle to defend our ancestral lands, and are yet to attain justice," added Dekdeken.

Dekdeken added the revival of Marcosian projects such as the Chico River dams through the P3.14 billion loan from the Chinese government will affect the water and land resources of the people of Cordillera and Northern Luzon.

"The Cordillera People will expose and oppose any and all attempts to resurrect the tyrannical and plunderous years of Marcos under the Duterte regime. The courage of the Kaigorotan will continue to seek justice for our forefathers who were killed and for future generations who will inherit our lands," ended Dekdeken.