RDC White Paper: Advancing the Cordilllera Agenda Regional Autonomy

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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Yet E.O. 220 remains in force unless repealed or amended per Supreme Court ruling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.

Rationale for Embarking on the Regional Autonomy Agenda

Regional autonomy is the overarching theme of the CAR Development Agenda:

2006-2010 per aforementioned earlier RDC actions.

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.

Fiscal autonomy could be modeled in CAR to effectively implement the regional

development agenda. The RDC believes that the region needs to develop its fiscal
capability and position and strive to gain a modicum of self-reliance and veer away
from full dependence on national government funding to effectively implement
regional development priorities. For instance, the RDC has always advocated
alternative planning standards for CAR due to its mountainous terrain and dispersed
settlement pattern that bear additional cost to projects. With standard planning
guidelines still in place, the RDC is convinced that development priorities in CAR are
likely to lose out in national prioritization. The foregoing challenge has encouraged
the RDC to model fiscal autonomy by exploring possibilities such as reviewing the
E.O 220 provision on CAR sharing from income taxes in the region that has been
stopped by the Department of Finance. The RDC believes that this provision, once
re-implemented, would allow it to partly demonstrate the region's ability to achieve
fiscal autonomy which it also considers to be one strong foundation and prerequisite for full autonomy.

The region needs to establish a position of strength in future negotiations for

autonomy. The RDC further believes that the CAR needs to firm up its position on
regional autonomy before the subject could be rendered irrelevant by moves to
change the Philippine Constitution that may include a shift to a federal form of
government. There is a growing idea in the RDC that the autonomy issue should
now be confronted to jumpstart an increasing regional consensus that should
precede moves towards federalism, for instance.

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.

The establishment of an autonomous region in the Cordilleras is a Constitutional

provision that must be pursued. Section 1, Art. X of the Philippine Constitution
mandates the creation of an autonomous region in Mindanao and the Cordilleras.
E.G. 220 created the CAR in 1987 with the purpose of preparing the region for
autonomy. The first Organic Act was overwhelmingly rejected in 1990 with only the
Province of Ifugao ratifying it and the second was similarly rejected in 1998 with
only the Province of Apayao favorably voting for it. After the prudent approach of
discernment on the autonomy issue, the RDC as the primary institution for regional
development coordination, took the responsibility to advance the regional autonomy
agenda. Inasmuch as autonomy for the Cordilleras is enshrined in the Philippine
Constitution, it could only be in the best interest of the Filipino citizens in the
Cordilleras for it to be fulfilled.