‘We must remain vigilant [of] those who seek to spread historical distortion, whitewashing, and forward their agenda for a false regional autonomy,’ says the Baguio-Benguet chapter of the Youth Act Now Against Tyranny
BAGUIO, Philippines — Student activists called on the young people of the Cordilleras to study the region’s history so as not to be misled by the false idea of peace celebrated on Mount Data Peace Accord or Sipat Day.
The Baguio-Benguet chapter of the Youth Act Now Against Tyranny (YANAT) issued the call on Friday, September 13, as other groups also condemned the 38th annual commemoration of the peace agreement between the government and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA).
“Until the government of the Philippines recognizes the right of indigenous peoples for its ancestral lands and self-determination, genuine regional autonomy will continue to elude us,” YANAT said in a statement.
“As the youth of today, it is imperative that we study and analyze our history. We must remain vigilant [of] those who seek to spread historical distortion, whitewashing, and forward their agenda for a false regional autonomy,” the organization said.
The Mount Data Peace Accord was signed on September 13, 1986, by the administration of then-president Corazon Aquino and the CPLA led by rebel priest Conrado Balweg. This ceasefire agreement then led to the signing of Executive Order 220, establishing the Cordillera Administrative Region in 1987, which promised self-governance for the region and peace in their communities.
The event’s commemoration is also known as “Sipat” Day, which means “exchange of peace tokens” in Kalinga.
On Friday, Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (PAPCU) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., emphasized the region’s ongoing aspiration for genuine autonomy.
“Since the signing of this historic peace agreement, we have seen sustained peace, development, and progress,” said Galvez, who was the guest of honor and speaker at this year’s commemoration event in Bauko, Mountain Province.
However, groups and organizations believe the agreement has failed to lead to regional autonomy even after 38 years.
“There is no basis to declare September 13 as holiday because the 1986 Mt. Data Sipat does not deserve to be commemorated. In fact, it must be condemned…. It did not create the regionalization of the Cordillera,” said the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in a Facebook post.
“The regionalization was merely formalized by Cory Aquino through Executive Order 220 in 1987, but the movement for ‘regionalization’ of the Cordillera was already a broad popular work in progress led by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance,” the group said.
“When [Balweg’s CPLA] emerged in 1986, it co-opted this political initiative with government support, then changed its tune of ‘Cordillera nation’ to ride on the popular clamor for regionalization and regional autonomy,” CPA added.
YANAT the youth group said that Sipat was only marked by “inefficiencies, corruption, and infighting.”
“Those who criticized its narrow indigenist stances and policies were silenced and worse, killed,” YANAT said. “It led to the murder of Cordillera Peoples Alliance officers.”
UP Kalipunan ng Mag-aaral sa Kasaysayan, an academic organization in UP Baguio, also asserted that the commemoration distorted the region’s history.
“Malinaw rin na ito ay historical distortion; binubura sa kasaysayan ang kataksilan ni Cory Aquino at ang madugong pagpatay ng CPLA at sa halip ay ipinipinta ang Sipat bilang isang makasaysayang hakbang na nagbigay umano ng kapayapaan at kalayaan sa Kordilyera,” the organization wrote on its Facebook page.
(This is clearly a historical distortion, trying to erase the betrayal by Cory Aquino and the killings by the CPLA from history, and instead painting Sipat as a historic step that supposedly brought peace and freedom to the Cordilleras.)
Ned Tuguinay, the CPA’s spokesperson, also said that the CPLA should not be remembered as a pioneer of the Cordillera regionalization campaign, but as a terrorist organization.
“We call on every peace and democracy loving individuals and institutions to help us combat the lies and to further drumbeat our calls for justice and accountability from the CPLA and from the government that enabled and continues to enable them,” Tuguinay added.
Rappler has reached out to PAPCU for their response to the statements of condemnation. We will update this story once they respond. – Rappler.com
Lyndee Buenagua is a third year college student and campus journalist from the University of the Philippines Baguio. The former editor-in-chief of Highland 360, a Baguio-based publication, she is also an Aries Rufo Journalism fellow of Rappler for 2024.
