Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa last week said there was need for more consultation to determine if the people in the region are determined to pursue an autonomous region as mandated by the Constitution.

“I recall that when the idea was brought to the officialdom of Benguet, provincial leaders chose not to be part of the setup,” he said. “There is no indication that this position has changed since then.”

He said that on the basis of this position, the electorate of Benguet had twice rejected being part of the proposed autonomous region in past plebiscites.

He said any fresh attempt to revive a bid for autonomy should be subjected to more grassroots consultation if it is to be given any chance of taking off.

Republic Act 6766, the Organic Act for the Cordillera Autonomous Region, mandated the creation of an autonomous government that is headed by a regional governor and it created a regional assembly that was supposed to enact laws and directed the autonomous government to exercise governmental functions that included the raising of taxes.

But the two plebiscites held to ratify the Organic Act — the first in Jan. 30, 1990 and the second in March 9, 1998 — were rejected by the people in the region. Only Ifugao voted favorably during the first plebiscite.

The other week, the provincial board of Benguet deferred action on a resolution submitted by a group of officers of the moribund Cordillera Regional Assembly (CRA) that sought to seek its support in seeking congressional push for the revival of autonomy for the Cordillera Administrative Region.

The provincial board expressed doubt if the move had multi-sectoral support.

The CRA officers, composed of acting chairperson Moses Comaad, Emilio Li-wanen, and Florencio Kigis, said autonomy could be a tool for development and blamed the lack of barangay-based information drive in the failure of the two plebiscites.

Board member Johnny Uy, a municipal mayor of Atok during the past plebiscites, said that while he campaigned hard for autonomy, the people already made up their minds to reject it.

Former board member Liso Agpas, a former mayor of Kapangan, said there was a need to show fiscal feasibility that autonomy would work better in the region than the current governmental setup.