[ Manila Bulletin Online ] March 20, 2008
By DEXTER A. SEE
From an aggressive mode to a development-based advocacy
BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) has shifted its approach to the autonomy issue from an aggressive mode to a development-based advocacy in an effort to pave the way for the establishment of a Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR).
The new approach is aimed at enhancing the development capabilities of the region and the local government units (LGUs) to enable them to discharge the duties and responsibilities of an autonomous region.
These functions, which are being done by the national government, would be devolved to CAR if autonomy is approved.
The RDC noted that a plan for the gradual development of the region’s capability to become autonomous is being demanded by almost all sectors in the provinces, including this mountain resort city.
The RDC’s decision to refocus the renewed pursuit for autonomy is anchored on the results of a survey conducted between October 2007 and January 2008 in the six provinces and this city. It shows that Cordillerans are still not aware of the real purpose of establishing an autonomous region.
Ironically, 30 percent of the people surveyed believed that the region is not ready for autonomy, while 40 percent have no opinion on the readiness of the region to handle autonomy.
Furthermore, 66 percent of Cordillerans remain undecided on the proposal to hold another plebiscite for the ratification of a new organic act, while another 15 percent appeared to be not in favor of autonomy.
The survey also showed that 58.6 percent of the Cordillerans tend to be undecided or tend to vote "no" but want more explanation of the autonomy issue, while 39 percent want to see better capacity of their local government to deliver basic public services before they would vote "yes" for autonomy.
Meanwhile, 19.8 percent of the people surveyed favor a regular administrative region for the present generation and let the future generation take advantage of the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of an autonomous region in the cordillera, while another 43 percent want to work out a flexible program to develop gradually Cordillera’s capability to become autonomous.
The RDC is convinced that the people of the Cordillera are more interested in activities that would develop capabilities to run an autonomous region, and this is the reason for the need to refocus the approach in a gradual manner. This is expected to ensure that the renewed pursuit for regional autonomy would not go to waste.
After the appropriate measures are put in place by RDC, a validation survey will again be conducted to determine how far government’s efforts have gone to convince the people to favor the establishment of the autonomous government.
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