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I.
The Regional Development Council-CAR and the Agenda for Regional
Autonomy in Context
The Cordillera Administrative Region was created on July 15, 1987 per E.O. 220 to
administer the regional affairs of government, accelerate the economic and social
growth and development of the units of the region, and prepare for the
establishment of the autonomous region. To pursue CAR'S purposes, the CAR bodies
were organized: the Cordillera Regional Assembly as the policy-formulating entity
and the Cordillera Executive Board as the development arm.
In Year 2000, Congress did not provide budget for the CAR bodies and were
subsequently de-activated, a situation that left a vacuum in regional coordination
and in the pursuit of CAR'S purposes. In July 2001, the President, in response to the
initiatives of the Region's leaders, issued E.O. 30 that constituted a Cordillera
Regional Development Council "which shall be the primary institution for setting the
direction of economic and social development in CAR and through which regional
development efforts shall be coordinated". E.O. 30 stipulates that E.O. 325, which is
the enabling law of RDCs in all regions, shall be applicable to the CAR. With the CAR
bodies de-activated and a regular RDC organized, it can be said that the first two
original purposes of the CAR are somewhat addressed but the third purpose of
preparing the region for the establishment of the autonomous region was sidelined.
Yet E.O. 220 remains in force unless repealed or amended per Supreme Court ruling
in December 1990. This brings to the fore the question of which institution shall
take the third purpose for which the CAR was created.
There are three institutions in the region that coordinate regional government
efforts with separate mandates but could be said to be at par with each other. The
RDC coordinates socio-economic development per E.O. 325/E.O 30. The Regional
Peace and Order Council (RPOC) coordinates efforts against criminality and
insurgency per E.O. 320. The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) ensures
disaster preparedness and coordinates resources for disaster operations per P.D.
1566. Functionally, the RDC is more encompassing in coverage than both the RPOC
and the RDCC which are sectoral in extent. This functional difference puts the RDC
in a position of authority to pursue the CAR'S purpose on autonomy.
During its Strategic Planning Workshop in March 2006 at Mount Data, Bauko,
Mountain Province, the RDC-CAR decided to adopt the pursuit of regional autonomy
as the overarching theme of Cordillera development. It took on the challenge to reinvent itself to pursue this development goal and consequently assumed the powers
of the CAR bodies as defined by E.O. 220 (RDC Res, No. CAR-09, s. 2006).
In the same strategic planning workshop, the RDC conceded to its logistical limits to
undertake its special actions as a re-invented organization. It, therefore, embarked
on a mission to influence the Cordillera legislators to move for the restoration of the
usual budget of the CAR bodies to be administered by the RDC-CAR in the pursuit of
CAR'S mandate per E.O. 220. The RDC gained momentum in its lobbying as the
national government granted it a budget of P15 Million pesos for 2007 to pursue an
initial agenda in preparing the region for autonomy.
To strengthen its re-inventing, the RDC-CAR aims to take the further steps of
working out an amendment of E.O. 30 through a presidential issuance and the
amendment of E.O. 220 through Congress to attain expanded corporate powers
though short of full regional autonomy. In these efforts, the re-invented RDC-CAR
endeavors to showcase the region's ability to gain increasing fiscal autonomy
through judicious exercise of corporate powers, among others, as a prelude to full
autonomy.
II.
The RDC members recognize that the region's development should be grounded on
Cordillera autonomy that respects the unique and distinct yet varied cultures of its
people. This recognition stems from the following persuasion:
An autonomous set-up could hasten CAR's development pace. The RDC believes
that the region could speed up its development pace and achieve more in an
autonomous set-up. From a careful assessment by regional planners, the CAR's
regional development agenda for 2006-2010 features key focus areas that generate
alternative economic activities. The RDC hopes that this strategic approach would
eventually re-structure the regional economy and put in place a diversification and
broadening of the region's sources of growth, away from a heavy reliance on
Baguio-based manufacturing and mainly from PEZA-based industries. Through the
key focus development areas, the RDC is convinced that the region has the
potential to become self-sufficient by capitalizing on particular identified abundant
natural resources and tapping certain areas of competence. In informal discussions,
many of the RDC members argue that under an autonomous set-up, significant
strides could be made on the bid to have control over the regional patrimony which
could further spur socio-economic development.
In the event that federalism is inevitable, the CAR leaders expressed their strong
inclination for CAR to be treated as a separate state in the best interest of its
people, accordingly contrary to the possibility of CAR becoming an entity of a larger
grouping such as an aggrupation of Northern Luzon regions as one federal state.
Logically, if moves for a regional autonomous set-up in CAR could be speeded up, it
may be a showcase for a federal state and therefore renders the merger of CAR with
other regions moot and academic.