Arroyo creates development council for Cordillera

BAGUIO CITY — President Arroyo recently signed Executive Order No. 30 creating a Regional Development Council in the Cordilleras, and local sectors see this as a positive move to resuscitate the region’s ailing economy.

Regional line agencies and Cordillera officials earlier observed that the economy of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) was going nowhere, having been waylaid by the deactivation of the Cordillera Executive Board (CEB) and the Cordillera Regional Assembly (CRA).

Executive Order No. 220 created the CEB and CRA in 1986 as transitory bodies for an autonomous Cordillera government, tasked to lay down economic and political policies for the region.

Regional line agencies received copies of Mrs. Arroyo’s EO 30 by fax only last Wednesday.

Composition

Under EO 30, the council will be composed of all the region’s governors, city and municipal mayors, the chairmen of the provincial mayors’ leagues, the mayor of the town designated as the regional center, a representative of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and the regional directors of agencies represented in the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board.

One-fourth of the council’s members will come from the private sector, at least one of whom shall be a representative of labor.

The council may also designate special non-voting members.

EO 30 mandates the council to set the direction for the region’s economic and social development and coordinate all regional development efforts.

Earlier this month, Cordillera governors and heads of regional agencies appealed to Mrs. Arroyo to issue an executive order creating such a council.

Urgent need

Juan Ngalob, NEDA’s CAR director, earlier cited the urgent need to create an interim regional development council to arrest the economic downtrend in the region in the past months, which he attributed to the deactivation of the CEB and the CRA.

Cordillera lawmakers have vowed to set aside politics and instead unite and work closely together to bring about a progressive Cordillera since full autonomy for the region is still a long way to go.

Reps. Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City, Samuel Dangwa of Benguet, Roy Pilando of Mt. Province, Solomon Chungalao of Ifugao, Lawrence Wacnang of Kalinga, Luis Bersamin of Abra and Elias Bulut Jr. of Apayao agreed that the national government failed to fully deliver what was due the region because the region’s former leaders did not speak with one voice.