Cordillera IPs prepare proposals for autonomy law
CORDILLERA ADMINISTRATIVE REGION: BAGUIO CITY
REPRESENTATIVES of the indigenous peoples (IPs) in the six provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) concluded on Sunday, Dec. 9, a three-day legislative assembly in Baguio City, where they finalized provisions for inclusion in House Bill 5343, the proposed law for the establishment of the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera (ARC). “I would like to assure you that there is enough time for us to consider whatever (proposals) you will present to us… I am committed to wait for your inputs prior to the approval in the Technical Working Group of this proposed bill,” Baguio City Rep. Mark O. Go, one of the bill’s seven authors, said during the assembly’s Friday opening. The gathering — organized by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)-IP Peace Panel and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), with support from the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) — was intended to obtain proposals from the region’s IPs on how the pending bill can be further enhanced, specifically provisions that impact on the rights and welfare of their communities. Prior to the legislative assembly, the OPAPP-IP Peace Panel and NCIP led a series of provincial consultations in Ifugao, Benguet, Kalinga, Apayao, and Mountain Province as well as in Baguio City. The 1987 Constitution provides for the creation of the ARC.