SUMKAD for the 1st Cordillera Day under another Marcos administration
BAGUIO CITY– Cordillera Peoples Alliance will hold celebrations of the 39th Peoples’ Cordillera Day from April 22-28 in Baguio City, Benguet, Mt. Province, Kalinga, and Metro Manila guided by the Central theme “Sumkad para iti daga, biag ken dayaw!” (Rise and defend land, life, and honor!). This will be the first Peoples’ Cordillera Day to happen under another Marcos administration since its Macli-ing Memorial beginnings in 1981.
The celebration owes its history to the Anti-Chico Dams’ resistance under the Marcos Dictatorship. At the height of the struggle on April 24, 1980, Kalinga pangat Macli-ing Dulag was assassinated by the military. This sparked the Macli-ing Memorials from 1981-1984, and eventually, the Cordillera Day in 1985 following the establishment of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance on June 1984. Since then, our Cordillera Day has been an expression of a people’s movement for freedom, democracy, and self-determination.
Spanning almost four decades now, the celebration finds itself in another Marcos administration and in a similar situation where ancestral lands are threatened by huge mining and energy projects coupled with intense militarization and human rights violations. However, this time around, we are also challenged with the rampant distortion of history and collective memory. It is thus the call of our times to revisit the gains and lessons of the past and collectively call for “Sumkad!” while drawing inspiration from our heroes, martyrs, and fellow Cordillera peoples, all for the continuation of a struggle that started decades, even centuries, ago.
Benguet will kick off the provincial celebrations of the Peoples’ Cordillera Day on April 22, 2023, at Ucab, Itogon. Cultural performances, sharing from elders, and educational situations are the highlights of their program. On April 24, the Kalinga leg will be held at Tabuk City with program highlights of situational discussions, community mobilization, protest, and a solidarity night. Baguio City will start a week-long celebration on the 25th through the launching of “Panaglagip: The North Remembers- Martial Law Stories of Struggle and Survival” at the University of the Cordilleras, and the opening of the “Victories of the Peoples’ Cordillera Day” live mural and exhibit at the University of the Philippines-Baguio (UPB) which will run until the 28th and culminate via a cultural concert also at UPB. Mt. Province meanwhile will be holding its provincial CPA Congress on April 26.
The April 28 Cultural Concert of the Baguio Cordillera Day will present the highlights of all celebrations and will also serve as a Northern Luzon solidarity activity in line with the Defend the North campaign and in time for the end of the Balikatan exercises between the US and the Philippine military. Representatives from peoples’ organizations in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions will be speaking in the concert about their current situation.
Outside Cordillera, a celebration will be held on April 23 in Quezon City. Celebrations abroad started this April 16 in Montreal, Canada, with Vancouver and Toronto to follow suit this April 21 and 22 respectively. There will also be celebrations in Hongkong on April 21; San Francisco, California on April 23, and in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 22.# (PR)
