FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT. Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. (3rd from left) leads the ground breaking of the PHP25-million road project in Bauko town, Mountain Province on Sept. 13, 2024 in time for the 38th year anniversary of the peace agreement between the national government and the local armed group, Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army. The project was funded under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program. (Photo courtesy of Novy Del Rosario/ MP PIO)
BAGUIO CITY – Officials of Mountain Province have expressed gratitude for the development programs being extended to the province as host of the most successful peace agreement between the national government and local armed group.
“We are happy because we are reaping the benefits of being the host of the Mt. Data Sipat agreement which our fellow Cordillerans continue to uphold and respect until now,” Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan said in a mix of English and Ilocano during a phone interview Monday.
On Sept. 13, 1986, former President Corazon Aquino and the local armed group, Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People Liberation Army (CBA-CPLA), signed a peace accord at Mt. Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province, which is now referred to as the “Sipat agreement”.
The pact adopted the indigenous way of settling conflicts and disputes, which led to the cessation of hostilities and the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Lacwasan said that after the signing of the pact, several peace and development projects, on top of scholarships, have been received by the Cordillerans that helped improve their lives.
For this year alone, the province has received around PHP200 million worth of infrastructure projects under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) project of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU).
Mountain Province Lone Congressional District Representative Maximo Dalog told the Philippine News Agency that most of the province’s residents are farmers, so the infrastructure projects like roads are great help to boost the local economy.
During the anniversary of the Sipat agreement last week, OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. led the groundbreaking of a PHP25-million two-kilometer road that will connect farms in sub-villages in the municipality of Bauko.
The village hall of Barangay Mt. Data, which is being utilized for community activities, will also be improved for development activities.
Galvez said they hope to get an approval for their proposed PHP3-billion 2025 budget.
Of the total, he said they eye a PHP600 million allotment for the Cordillera, with PHP260 million specifically for Mountain Province. (PNA)
