BANGUED, ABRA – The Cordillera Regional Development Council in its meeting on March 5 encouraged all regional government agencies, public and private schools, Civil Society Organizations in the region to actively participate in this year’s Cordillera Month celebration. With the theme “Innovative Cordillera: Prospering as One”, the Cordillera Regional Development Council Economic Development Sectoral Committee (EconSecom) and the local government of Mountain Province presented the initial list of activities of the 33rd Cordillera Month Celebration in July 2020.

Aside from the traditional week-long Unity Gong Relay and the July 15 Regional Foundation parade and program, the EconSecom has set a State of the Region Address and culmination program on July 31. The celebration will also include an Investment Opportunities Forum and Innovation Summit to be held simultaneously in all CAR provinces. Committee chair and DTI-CAR Director Myrna Pablo encouraged the provinces to form their own local committees and enroll their planned events to the sectoral committee’s list of activities. “We make sure that everyone is a part of this celebration”, she stressed.

Mountain Province Private Sector Representative Paulino Tumapang shared that the Lang-ay Festival Organization is set to conduct Cordillera autonomy information dissemination events with schools in Mountain Province. “The essence of the Cordillera month celebration is to raise awareness of our pursuit of Cordillera autonomy”, Tumapang added.

The Cordillera Congressmen likewise offered their participation and saw the Cordillera Month celebration as an opportunity to show the rest of the Philippines that the region is ready for autonomy. “We can show our unity and support for the immediate enactment of the Organic Act”, Kalinga Congressman Allen Jesse Mangaoang said. RDC-CAR Vice-Chair and NEDA-CAR Regional Director Milagros Rimando affirmed the need to remind the administration of the agreements between the Cordillera people and the Philippine government in 1986 which led to the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region and preparation for autonomy.

The Cordillera Administrative Region was established through Executive Order 220 on July 15, 1987, to prepare the region for autonomous governance in fulfillment of the mandate in the 1987 Constitution to establish an autonomous region in the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao. Every July, the RDC leads the celebration of Cordillera month to celebrate development gains and rally stakeholders in the pursuit of Cordillera autonomy.