The President was also asked to order the appropriation of P23.26 million for the operations of the two regional agencies.

In a petition signed by sectoral leaders of the region, it was stated that the reconstitution of the CEB and CRA is aimed at heeding the call of the President for the Cordillera people to prepare for the establishment of an autonomous regional government which is mandated by the 1987 Constitution.

The request for the reconstitution of the two Cordillera bodies was based on Executive Order (EO) No. 220 issued by former President Corazon C. Aquino.

The EO, which created transitory bodies to take the lead role in achieving Cordillera autonomy, was issued after the historic 1987 Mount Data peace agreement signed between President Aquino and the late rebel priest, Fr. Conrado Balweg.

During the term of deposed President Joseph Estrada, the CEB, CRA, and the Cordillera Bodong Administration were given only P1 budget each.

This came as about when the Cordillera congressmen were disappointed over the petty bickering by the officials on how to prepare the region for autonomy.

However, CRA criticized some sectors in the region who had claimed that the three government bodies were not abolished but were merelyr deactivated due to lack of budget for their operations.

Once the CRA and CEB are reconstituted, a minimal number of personnel would be employed and would be tasked to prepare the region for self-governance.

Aside from the request of P23.27 million as seed money for the CRA and CEB, the leaders are asking that the balance of the P33 million allotted to the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) be realigned and used for the information drive on the quest for regional autonomy.

However, Cordillera congressman are lukewarm about the request of tribal leaders because they are apparently anticipating blunders to be committed by the leaders of the Cordillera bodies once they are in power.

They prefer that the quest for regional autonomy is spearheaded by the RDC because it has already achieved significant accomplishments in the preparation stage for the drive for self-governance.

The lack of understanding of the merits of an autonomous region was the main reason why Cordillerans voted against the two proposed organic acts in the two plebiscites.

This was aggravated by the fact that the information campaign was focused on the personalities campaigning for or against autonomy.

The national government had promised regional autonomy for the Cordillera in implementation of the peace agreement forged between the Aquino administration and the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) headed then by Father Balweg.