By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BARE feet stamp to the beat of gongs. Men in bahag (G-string) and women in colorful tapis (wraparound skirt) perform indigenous dances. Bamboo cups of basi (sugarcane wine) are then raised and drained in a ceremonial toast.
On May 6, the government and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army celebrated their joint declaration of peace, which had taken more than two decades in the making, the Cordillera way.
Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, called the May 6 event held at the Ortigas Park a “historical moment.”
After all, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the EDSA people power revolution that restored the country’s democracy.
Also, the peace agreement between the government and the CPLA and its political arm, the Cordillera Bodong Administration (CBA), was reached during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III, exactly 25 years after the CPLA first forged a peace agreement with the government of his mother, the late Corazon Aquino.
Presidential sister Viel Aquino-Dee, her father-in-law former Ambassador to the Vatican Howard Dee, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, Mountain Province Rep. Maximo Dalog, Apayao Gov. Elias Bulut Jr. and other political leaders from Cordillera witnessed last week’s declaration of peace.
Later this month, the CPLA will sign the final agreement with Malacanang that will make them “replace their weapons for fighting with instruments of development for peace,” Deles said.
The CPLA was formed by former New People’s Army members operating in the northern Cordilleras n April 1986 to pursue regional autonomy and self- determination. Former priest Conrado Balweg headed the group until internal conflicts led to factions.
Under the Mount Data Agreement, so-called because it was signed Sept. 13, 1986 at the Mount Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province, the CPLA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines committed “to a cessation of hostilities.”
The Cordillera rebels also agreed not to disrupt government functions in the Cordillera Administrative Region, except for matters that concern the Cellophil Resources Corp. and Chico River.
Cordillerans joined the NPA in the ’70s because the forests were being denuded in Abra, Mountain Province and Kalinga for the CRC pulp mill and building the Chico dam spanning from Kalinga to Mountain Province would have meant submerging rice fields and villages.
At the signing then, President Corazon Aquino, who stood as witness, presented a Bible and a rosary as sipat (token of peace); the CPLA, a spear and shield; and the AFP, an Armalite rifle.
Following the agreement, the CPLA agreed to be integrated in government through the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) at first, and the Philippine National Police through the Cordillera Indigenous Peace-Keeping Unit (CIPKU) later.
Over the years, the CPLA has been accused of serving as a private army for politicians. Members were said to have served as paid gunmen. There have also been accusations of continuous recruitment of members, some of whom have criminal records despite the recruitment ban.
The May 6 joint declaration, a prelude to the comprehensive peace and development closure agreement scheduled to be signed on or before May 20, has six general elements. These are community projects for selected communities, livelihood and jobs for CPLA members, subregional development projects, legacy documentation, final disposition of arms and forces, and the transformation of the CPLA and CBA into a socioeconomic organization.
Deles said the agreement “entails an essential shift in the way CPLA views itself” as the rebels transform their group into a “potent socioeconomic unarmed force that can directly make a difference in the lives of their families and communities.”
She said the CPLA will also play a role in the pace and direction of development in the Cordillera Administrative Region, “a region that continues to pose enormous challenges to poverty reduction and human development goals and targets.”
In his speech, Arsenio Humiding, whom OPAPP acknowledges as CPLA chairperson, expressed readiness to “face the peace track of the present administration,” which the organization supported last elections.
CBA President Marcelina Bahatan expressed appreciation for the “initiative of the present administration to bring about the meaningful closure to the Mount Data peace accord,” but said the rebels have “bigger dreams to be realized”—the region’s autonomy.
Executive Order 220 that created the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987 during Corazon Aquino’s presidency was the first step toward autonomy for the Cordillera people. But majority of Cordillerans rejected autonomy in two plebiscites that were held.
While the joint declaration was an optimistic event, the CPLA faction headed by Mike Sugguiyao said his group had sent a letter of objection to OPAPP.
Suggiyao said his faction, which comprises the groups of former Abra Mayor Mailed Molina and the late wife of Balweg, Corazon, is the legitimate CPLA, having been “affirmed” by the AFP as its “partner in truce.”
“OPAPP is creating its own version of CPLA,” he said in Ilocano.
A May 5 press release posted on the OPAPP website said, however, the AFP “verified the legitimacy” of Humiding’s leadership and “ensured support for the armed group’s closure agreement with the government.”
Representatives from both the Philippine National Police and the AFP were present during the signing of the declaration.
Said AFP spokesperson Miguel Jose Rodriguez said: “Sundalo ang pinakamasaya kapag mayinitiatives for peace sapagkat kami po ay natutuon ang aming energy hindi sa bakbakan kundi sa pagtutulungan ng bawat isa sa atin na umunlad ang ating bayan (Soldiers are the happiest when there are peace initiatives because this means that we can channel our energy towards the progress of our country.).”