PWDs back quest for Cordillera Autonomy
The Persons with Disability Sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) expressed their full support to the proposed establishment of the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) in lieu of the present special temporary administrative region to contribute in accelerating the socio-economic development of the Cordillera.
NAPC-PWD representative John Paredes said that the PWD sector is looking into ways on how to actively participate in the ongoing information and education campaign on autonomy.
He claimed that the PWD sector must be well informed of the benefits of shifting to an autonomous region so that they will be ready to vote in favor of the law that will be enacted establishing the autonomous region in the future.
The statement of support of the NAPC-PWD came in time for the celebration of the 37th Cordillera month where concerned sectors are now aggressively conducting their respective information and education campaign and upstream and downstream lobby for the passage of pending bills in both chambers of Congress seeking the establishment of the autonomous region.
Paredes pointed out that the PWD sector wants to contribute in the activities of the Regional Development Council (RDC) that are geared towards the realization of the constitutional provision mandating the establishment of the autonomous region that is why the sector is trying to assess and evaluate where the group will be able to be effective in providing people with vital information on autonomy.
Earlier, Cordillera leaders and concerned sectors signed a manifesto earnestly appealing to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Congress of the Philippines to grant to the region the long overdue autonomy for it to develop at par with other regions through the formulation of suitable programs and policies that will be beneficial to the people in the different parts of the region.
The signed manifesto was transmitted to the Office of the President and to both chambers of Congress for their information, guidance, ready reference and further needed action.
Cordillera congressmen authored House Bill (HB) 3267 that seeks to establish the Cordillera Autonomous Region which is now appending with the House committee on appropriations after being passed upon by the House committees on local government and ways and means.
Further, its counterpart bill in the Senate is now pending with the Senate committee on local government awaiting the action of the House on the pending autonomy bill that says the same must emanate from the lower chamber being classified as a local bill.
Lawmakers are hopeful that the pending autonomy bills will be acted upon once Congress resumes its third regular session for the 19th Congress after the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos, Jr. shall have been delivered on July 22, 2024 at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.
The 1987 Constitution mandates the establishment of autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera but it was only Muslim Mindanao that was able to achieve the same in 1995 before it was strengthened with the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in 2018 that strengthened the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Dexter A. See
