CPA condemns OPAPP’s ‘deceitful attempts’

April 28, 2017 Latest News

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) denies any participation in a forum in Bauko, Mountain Province on April 24, 2017 which the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) claimed, through a press release, a step “towards healing and reconciliation as they strongly pushed for Cordillera autonomy towards federalism”.
“CPA will never be part of such event that revises our people’s history, promotes bogus autonomy and undermines the people’s struggle for self-determination,” said Abie Anongos, secretary general of CPA.
The CPA stressed they are not just any group or “rebel faction” as was claimed in OPAPP’s press release.
The alliance also denied the alleged claim of OPAPP that the unveiling of the marker for Chico heroes on April 23 was part of the OPAPP event. “Such attempt to deceive the people is a dishonor to the memories and struggle of Macliing Dulag, Pedro Dungoc Sr., Ama Lumbaya Gayudan, the other people’s martyrs and heroes and the whole Cordillera people,” the CPA stated.
This, along with other issues and struggles of the Cordillerans, became part of the 33rd Cordillera Day commemoration held from April 23-25, 2017 in Kalinga province.
The event highlighted the pressing issues confronting the Cordillera people such as the need for justice and peace, human rights violations, imperialist plunder of ancestral lands and militarization.
The CPA said peace process will only happen if the OPPAP follows their conditions like totally leaving their land, removing those dam infrastructure and military surveillance to name a few. Aubrey Morales, UC Intern