Now that the negotiating panels in the peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP have agreed to resume formal negotiations starting February this year, it is timely that concerted efforts be made to ensure that the issues and concerns of the Cordillera are articulated in the negotiating table specially when they start talking about socio-economic reforms which happen to be the next major item in the negotiations.
While we endure with our fellow Filipinos the major obstacles to genuine progress and development, there are unique constraints which impede the progress of indigenous people like those in the Cordilleras. There is, for instance, the lack of control over vast tracts of land which are known as part of the ancestral domain. While foreign investors in mining, for instance, can easily gain access to and take control of these vast resources, the indigenous people themselves are not protected in their claim to ownership over these resources.
Coming at a time when there is renewed efforts to push forward regional autonomy for the Cordillera, the peace negotiations would provide an added impetus to examine in depth the whys and wherefores of regional autonomy especially as it attempts to address socio-economic and political reforms.
The regional autonomy project need not be tied up with the peace talks, of course. But it would be unwise to ignore it at the same time since it would have major repercussions on the political and socio-economic landscape of the Cordillera region once it is successfully concluded which is being targeted to be done in three years’ time.
Meanwhile, there is a need for the wider public to get involved in the peace talks by studying and discussing the content of the agenda and letting both panels know their comments and sentiments. The various major stakeholders of the Philippine economy and politics would certainly try to influence the outcome of the negotiations even attempting to stall and derail it like what they did in the past when it starts to veer against their vested interests.
While it is the government and the NDFP which has the major responsibility of seeing to it that the negotiations really move forward, other major institutions in the country like the churches, the academe and business could and should give their input to push the process forward. Peoples’ organizations and non-government organizations can do likewise.
Since it is the future of this country that is a stake in the peace negotiations, these should not be left alone to a few individuals to determine. While they are empowered to do so, the participation through genuine consultation of the biggest possible number of people would still be a positive move.
Otherwise, we would be repeating many of the weaknesses and errors of the aborted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in Muslim Mindanao which condemned it to failure.
While we endure with our fellow Filipinos the major obstacles to genuine progress and development, there are unique constraints which impede the progress of indigenous people like those in the Cordilleras. There is, for instance, the lack of control over vast tracts of land which are known as part of the ancestral domain. While foreign investors in mining, for instance, can easily gain access to and take control of these vast resources, the indigenous people themselves are not protected in their claim to ownership over these resources.
Coming at a time when there is renewed efforts to push forward regional autonomy for the Cordillera, the peace negotiations would provide an added impetus to examine in depth the whys and wherefores of regional autonomy especially as it attempts to address socio-economic and political reforms.
The regional autonomy project need not be tied up with the peace talks, of course. But it would be unwise to ignore it at the same time since it would have major repercussions on the political and socio-economic landscape of the Cordillera region once it is successfully concluded which is being targeted to be done in three years’ time.
Meanwhile, there is a need for the wider public to get involved in the peace talks by studying and discussing the content of the agenda and letting both panels know their comments and sentiments. The various major stakeholders of the Philippine economy and politics would certainly try to influence the outcome of the negotiations even attempting to stall and derail it like what they did in the past when it starts to veer against their vested interests.
While it is the government and the NDFP which has the major responsibility of seeing to it that the negotiations really move forward, other major institutions in the country like the churches, the academe and business could and should give their input to push the process forward. Peoples’ organizations and non-government organizations can do likewise.
Since it is the future of this country that is a stake in the peace negotiations, these should not be left alone to a few individuals to determine. While they are empowered to do so, the participation through genuine consultation of the biggest possible number of people would still be a positive move.
Otherwise, we would be repeating many of the weaknesses and errors of the aborted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in Muslim Mindanao which condemned it to failure.
