You were in the Cordillera Day 2014 if you

You were in the Cordillera Day if you know Macliing Dulag. The Indigenous community
in the Cordillera province celebrated its 30
th
Cordillera Day on April 23-26 in Guinaang, Pasil,
Kalinga. Together with delegates from the different regions in the archipelago, from various
progressive movements, and from the international society (countries in Latin America, North
America, and South and Southeast Asia), they commemorated the heroism of Macliing Dulag
(who died in defense of the ancestral land from the Chico Dam Project during the Marcos
dictatorship) and the martyrs of the Cordillera peoples struggle. This year 2014, the event
focused on the Indigenous Peoples continuous resistance against imperialist plunder of their
ancestral lands and resources, and assertion of their right to self-determination.
You were in the Cordillera Day if you recognize that there is an inch distance to the birth
canal. Someone joked that when one dies, what he or she sees is not the path towards heaven but
the birth canal as he or she is immediately reborn. Indeed, the trek in the Cordillera Mountains
proved to be challenging for the 10 Political Science practicumers under the Center for People
Empowerment and Governance that every death-defying route feels like adjacent to ones death
and the birth canal. It was however, nothing compared to the rampant militarization in the region
because of which human rights of the Indigenous Community in the Cordillera are often
neglected and violated. A month before the Cordillera Day, elements of the military allegedly
massacred three human rights workers, William Bugatti, Licuben and Fredie Ligiw. Ironically,
the policy of Oplan Bayanihan only aided in spreading terror among IPs and thereby also
corrupting communities through creating factions among tribes.
You were in the Cordillera Day if you understand that myths are real. During the
Cordillera Day, simultaneous workshops were assembled International Grassroots Solidarity
Workshop on Self-Determination, Childrens Workshop, Mining, Energy, Genuine Regional
Autonomy, Human Rights and Peace, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), Abolish
Pork/Peoples Initiative, Imperialism in Agriculture, Elders Workshop which reflects the
issues confronting not only the IPs in the Cordillera province but are common among the
Indigenous population across continents and oceans. These roundtable discussions unveiled the
myths often created by the Philippine government as it pursues the bandwagon of globalization:
one, the IPs being the most vulnerable are further marginalized; two, political prisoners and
victims of impunity do exist; and three, development aggression is real.
You were in the Cordillera Day if you realize that happy endings are only in fairytales.
Although there are success stories, imperialist plunder of the ancestral lands and resources, and
widespread human rights violations still continue to plague the IP communities and trouble their
future. In a solidarity message, they recognize that there are no shortcuts to success and that the
path towards it will be tough. It is for this reason that Cordillera Day 2014 serves as a wake-up
call on IP communities to unite and collectively fight for their right to self-determination. It is no
time for tribe wars and conflicts that further divide the community. Quoting from the movie
Catching Fire, they should remember who the real enemy is.
You were in the Cordillera Day if you recognize that no man is an island. Up in the
mountains, the workshops during the Cordillera Day have been a device for social networking.
Through building connections with IPs in the other parts of the country and the world
(international solidarity) that IPs in the Cordillera learn from the experience of others and draw
support from them as they fight for their rights. Here, there is no North and South. It is their
shared struggle for their rights to their lands and self-determination that made them one.
Lastly, you were in the Cordillera Day if you could tell that first-times last forever, that
learning is not confined in the four-corners of the room, that life-changing experience is not just
a gift but a challenge to liberate oneself from the comfort zone of individualism.