The tale of the two Cordillera Days and Autonomy
By: Frank Cimatu, photos by Art Tibaldo, PIA
For a region still searching for its identity, Cordillera celebrates two Cordillera Days.
July 15 is a special non-working holiday in the Cordillera. Another is on April 24 when Kalinga leader Macliing Dulag of Bugnay was killed defending the province against the Chico Dam development.
A week before July 15, a specially made Cordillera gong or gangsa is ceremoniously beaten daily in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province. On the 15th, the local officials who followed the relay would have their final beating of the gong in Baguio City, the region’s de facto capital.
But the sound of the gong is not as solid as the Cordillerans dreamt of.
Since then-President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order No. 220 on July 15, 1987, creating the Cordillera Administrative Region, the region has not been able to move on to the next part, which is to become the Cordillera Autonomous Region.
Advocates for Cordillera autonomy have warned the people that the region would be torn asunder and returned to Regions I and II if it fails to become autonomous. But the Cordillerans do not seem to care.
The other Cordillera Day is April 24. The site would be chosen by organizers a couple of months before. In the 1990s, the site chosen a few months before would entail hours of travel and hiking. Only a few could participate in the day of solidarity speeches and communal dancing.
April 24, 1980, was when the Kalinga pangat or peace-pact holder Macliing Dulag was killed by government soldiers in the village of Butbut in Kalinga. He was killed for his outspoken opposition against the construction of the Chico River Dam, which would have flooded his village and many more.
It was in 1985 when the Cordillera Peoples Alliance declared it as Cordillera Day to honor not only Dulag but other Cordillera martyrs.
It is older than the July 15 celebration, which was only formalized as a regional holiday in the 1990s but the April 24 Cordillera Day was hardly known. And part of the reason why the sites were remote was to deter military intelligence from attending and red-tagging the attendees.
The tales of the two Cordillera Days are the Yin and Yang of the region’s quest for autonomy.
July 15, 1987, was an offshoot of the Mount Data Sipat Agreement on September 13, 1986, when the Philippine Government, headed by President Corazon Aquino, had a traditional exchange of weapons or sipat with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army at Mt. Data Lodge in Bauko, Mountain Province.
This indicated that the Cordillerans are willing to lay down their arms to talk peace with the country, thus forging the creation of EO 220 and the administrative region.
Recently, September 13 also became a regional holiday to help convert the CAR into an autonomous region.
But the CAR refused to start.
The silent twin
The 1987 Philippine Constitution mandated the creation of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera, recognizing their distinct historical, cultural, economic, and social identities.
Article X, Section 15 explicitly provides these self-governing regions to operate within the broader national sovereignty and territorial integrity framework. This provision highlights the country’s effort to address longstanding issues of representation, governance, and development in areas with unique contexts.
Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao are like twins on opposite sides of the archipelago. Both successfully resisted foreign colonizers. Cordillera gave the Spaniards a hard time entering the mountains despite their hunger for gold, but they eventually gave in to the Americans. The Muslim Mindanao resisted both the Spaniards and the Americans.
In Muslim Mindanao, the mandate led to the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through Republic Act No. 6734. Initially composed of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the ARMM represented the first attempt to establish regional autonomy.
Over the years, however, it faced challenges linked to peace negotiations, factionalism within the Moro liberation movements, and questions about its effectiveness in delivering genuine self-rule and development. These struggles eventually led to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which replaced the ARMM in 2019.
For the Cordillera, autonomy has been a more elusive goal. EO 220 established CAR as the transitory body to accelerate development and prepare for eventual autonomy. However, plebiscites on organic acts in 1990 and 1998 failed to gain public approval. Advocates continue to push for greater awareness and support, arguing that autonomy is crucial for addressing the region’s unique needs and maximizing its development potential.
While Mindanao has achieved a functioning autonomous government through years of negotiation and restructuring, the Cordillera remains in transition, grappling with political will, public understanding, and regional unity issues. The experiences of both regions underscore the complexities of translating constitutional provisions into lasting and meaningful autonomy.
While the BARMM is now on its walking stage, Cordillera, the silent twin, seemed stillborn.
“We paid this with blood, sweat and tears”
In January this year, I joined the Luzon edition of “Inside BARMM – A Walk Through the Bangsamoro Region.” I was the only Cordilleran journalist invited to talk to BARMM leaders, legislators and generals. The Mindanao Institute of Journalism gave us lectures about the BARMM’s odyssey.
One of the highlights was meeting with Mohagher Iqbal, a Muslim Islamic Liberation Front member and the head of its peace negotiating panel. At that time, we met him by his nom de plume, Salah Jubair, author of “Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny,” among others.
In the following tete-a-tete, I asked him how Cordillera can move forward with its quest for autonomy.
After discussing the two regions’ success and tragedy in fighting colonization in the past, he mentioned moving forward.
“How could you move? It’s up to the people,” Iqbal said.
“And the people has to be provided with leadership. Because basically the people, with the respect of all, are us. It’s the people we should follow. But there has to be a leadership. And the leadership should come from people who are more or less educated. I hope that our brothers and sisters in the Cordilleras will move.”
“Because you cannot expect others to solve your problem. You have to solve your problem. And maybe they can learn from us,” he added.
I was jarred by what he said: “We paid this in blood, sweat and tears. Binayaran po namin ito ng dugo, luha at pawis. It was not given to us on a silver platter. Di ba, binayaran po natin ito.”
“The people must be willing to sacrifice. If they have not sacrificed, then they cannot expect anything. We paid this… 150,000 (dead), binayad dito, kasama diyan ang mga sundalo,” Iqbal said.
“So, people must solve their problem. They have to act. The moon cannot fall, it will not fall down.”
Bloody start, boring end
Like what Iqbal suggested, there was a leader who spearheaded the Cordillera autonomy.
Conrado Balweg belonged to a well-off family in Manabo, Abra. As an SVD priest ordained in 1970, he heard of Macli-ing. Balweg and his group campaigned against the Chico River Dam. Abra has its own battle: the Cellophil Project, which would have entailed the denudation of the forest of upper Abra, where Balweg came from.
In 1979, Balweg joined the New People’s Army, along with some other priests from Abra. He belonged to the famed Lumbaya Company, the elite fighting group of the NPA.
In 1986, he formed the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army together with Bruno Ortega, another priest from Abra. It resulted in blood being spilt between the two groups.
It was Balweg who joined the Mt. Data Sipat in 1987, the former priest giving President Aquino and then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile a spear, shield, bolo, and head-axe and receiving an assault rifle, a Bible and a rosary in return.
Balweg had become a media celebrity at that time, with even a biopic “Balweg: Rebel Priest” opening in July 1987, directed by Butch Perez and starring Philip Salvador, who was still popular then.
1989 Republic Act No. 6766 was passed for the organic act creating the Cordillera Autonomous Region, with a plebiscite set on January 20, 1990. Other than Balweg, the prominent supporters for autonomy were Reps. Billy Claver of Kalinga already advocated for Cordillera autonomy in 1971 and 1987, and Gualberto Lumauig of Ifugao.
About 70 percent rejected the call for autonomy with only Ifugao approving it. The Supreme Court soon said a single province cannot constitute a region.
Fernando Bahatan Jr. in his paper “Cordillera Autonomy: Looking Around and Farther Back” read during a forum in July 2008 cited the following reasons for the failure of the first plebiscite: lack of education, information and communication; a campaign period of only two months; misinformation; non-readiness for change; “people playing safe by voting “no” to what they cannot understand; and campaign fund channeled to COMELEC.
A second plebiscite for a second organic act through RA 8438 was held on March 9, 1998. This time, Balweg decided to campaign against it, leading later to his ouster as CPLA head. He would later die on December 31, 1999, in his hometown in Malibcong, assassinated by the NPA.
Former Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan would emerge as the leader of Cordillera autonomy and campaigned hard for it in 1998. Still, the Cordillerans overwhelmingly voted against autonomy except in the province of Apayao, where it won.
This time, Bahatan was more specific and accusative of the reasons for the resounding “No” vote. The reasons he said are:
Limited campaign period (Feb. 5-March 5, 1998)
Copies of the Organic Act were released and distributed only in the first two weeks of February.
Delayed release of plebiscite funds to the COMELEC, which announced that the plebiscite may be reset
Delayed release of information and the education fund under the Organic Act
Channeling of the IEC funds to Governors and City Mayor, which caused suspicion that the funds would be used for the politicians’ campaign in the election, which was not far away from the date of the plebiscite
Ban on political advertisements, which included the IEC on the plebiscite
Very active “no” campaign by church group members and the FLAG
Persistent mis/disinformation on many provisions of the Organic Act is causing fears among the voters, particularly DEC and other government employees.
Questionable leadership credibility. Many believed that incumbent politicians would run for regional offices.
After the second plebiscite, there were no serious attempts to have a third one. The Cordillera members of Congress obligingly tried to pass an organic act creating the autonomous region, but they failed to go beyond the House committee level.
The most vocal opposition to the autonomy drive is the Cordillera People’s Alliance, which instead calls for genuine autonomy.
In our interview with anthropologist, ex-detainee, and CPA founder Joanna Kintanar Cariño, she said that the national government should meet with the IPs face-to-face.
“Genuine regional autonomy cannot be achieved while the government views the Cordillera as a resource base for development aggression and private profit. As it is, ancestral lands have been earmarked for mines and destructive mega-dams,” she said.
“The Igorots have no control over their lands and resources, which should be the foundation of genuine autonomy,” Carino added.
Modeling Cordillera from BARRM is not the answer, she said.
“We should learn from the earlier Cordillera bodies like the Cordillera Regional Assembly, the Cordillera Bodong Administration, and CPLA of Conrado Balweg, which were total disasters. Latest news on BARMM is that govt has not delivered on its promises, and MILF is complaining.”
Attempting a comeback
For the first time in his 30 years as a politician, Domogan lost as mayor against incumbent Mayor Benjie Magalong three years ago. He won this May as congressman and vowed that Cordillera autonomy would be the first thing he would pursue in the House.
In his speech at the kickoff program of the 38th Cordillera Day last June, he said that it will be the greatest gift that today’s elders and leaders can leave to the younger generation. He stressed that the youth, not the present officials, will be the ones to fully reap the fruits of self-governance, cultural preservation, and genuine development once autonomy is achieved.
Domogan clarified that the new autonomy bill will not diminish the powers and benefits already enjoyed by the Cordillera under its current administrative set-up. Instead, it seeks to expand these benefits by empowering a regional government to craft policies, programs, and projects more responsive to the unique conditions of the highland provinces.
Domogan vowed to make personal representations with Finance Secretary Ralph Recto to secure the necessary funding for the autonomous region. As a legislator, he recalled that Recto had expressed support for the Cordillera’s clamor for autonomy. He rejected the notion that the national government cannot provide the needed funds, stressing that such support is critical for sustaining the operations of an autonomous region.
Domogan also pointed out the strong support from Mindanao lawmakers for the Cordillera’s autonomy bid. He said this stems from the solidarity shown by Cordillera representatives in pushing for the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which paved the way for the creation of BARMM. He sees this as a testament to how regions with shared struggles for self-determination can uplift one another.
“We must take this as a challenge and stand our ground when the winds of resistance blow hard against our dream. Let us turn the opposite winds to be our ally,” he said, emphasizing the need for participatory dialogues, education, and inclusivity among the region’s ethnolinguistic groups.
“The Cordillera’s story is one of courage, sacrifice, and unity,” he added, “and autonomy is the continuation of this legacy.”
Youth talk
Domogan would turn 79, and his hope to gift Cordillera autonomy to the youth is becoming dire. Many of the champions for autonomy are no longer around. The last plebiscite was 26 years ago.
But the autonomy advocates remain hopeful. The National Economic Development Authority – Cordillera cited a regional survey conducted by Pulse Asia in 2021, showing a high awareness of Cordillera autonomy despite its moribund activity.
The survey showed that 61 percent know Cordillera autonomy and that 71.74 percent would vote for autonomy if the plebiscite were held then. Most respondents in the provinces and Baguio City would vote for Cordillera autonomy.
The survey, however, showed that the youth are the least aware among the sectors surveyed.
Kurt Zeus Lequit Dizon, a political science professor at Saint Louis University, is acutely aware of this “nonchalance” of the Cordilleran youth on regional autonomy.
“Being in touch with the Gen Z and millennials, I think it is still important to discuss regional autonomy. In fact, it is part of our curriculum in my department, and we discuss and incorporate it in our other subjects,” he said.
“But may I be clear, it is not to promote regional autonomy but to make them aware of regional autonomy as a possible policy that would affect them. Ano ang regional autonomy? Can it help us develop or not? Will it solve our problems – economic, political, cultural? This is a set of questions we try to ask our students.
Dizon said that the low awareness of the students on Cordillera autonomy is alarming and concerning. He said that the students’ grounding in history and socio-political knowledge is low because of the neglect of social science in the basic curriculum.
“Igorot students do not even know important figures who shape the identity they are proud of. Kilala ba nila si Mateo Cariño? Si Macli-ing Dulag? Ironic, I observed many Igorot students, very proud but also highly static yung mindset. Do they even know that their identity is a result of national struggle? Have they heard the stories of their ancestors – the Igorot resistance against the Spaniards, Chico Dam and Cellophil? Kahit alam nila yung term ng regional autonomy pero kung hindi maganda ang groundings nila sa socio-political history ng Cordillera, hindi plantsyado yung kaalaman nila sa regional autonomy,” he said.
One who thinks that Cordillera autonomy would be realized shortly is Rocky Ngalob, a young law graduate who is now with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
“Although I personally believe that the concept of regional autonomy as necessary for self-determination for the indigenous peoples, I think it will not see it soon because of the lack of sense of history of many of the Cordillerans,” he said.
Ngalob said that it is not enough that we see the gains we can get from regional autonomy.
“If you are going to introduce a new law on autonomy, it should confront the ill effects of existing laws that affect the IP. The new law should more than just supplement the old laws but contradict them,” he said.
He cited provisions from the forestry laws. NIPAS and even taxation laws that are disadvantageous to the IPs. These should be corrected before the discussion on autonomy would proceed.
He said these new organic act proposals are more about establishing the structure for autonomy. As control and governance are lacking in the organic acts, Ngalob said.
Cariño agrees. “The autonomy bills are more of bureaucratic structures, the form instead of the substance of genuine autonomy. The people have more urgent day to day problems than a new regional bureaucracy,” Carino said.
Ngalob said that blood, sweat, and tears may not work today for Cordillera autonomy. He said that peace works better, though not how we envisioned.
“Why was IPRA passed? It was because then-President Fidel V. Ramos was going for the Nobel Peace Prize. The same way, why was BARMM allowed as an autonomous region? Because PNoy then was also after the nomination for the same prize,” Ngalob said.
Ultimately, the two Cordillera Days should be honored and commemorated, the peace and war of the struggle, the gaining, and the dying from it.
