TAKDER

Ano bang mayroon sa Abra?

Mayaman ang probinsya ng Abra, katulad ng iba pang probinsya sa Kordilyera at sa buong Pilipinas. Kaya ganun na lang din ang pagkukumahog ng mga kumpanya, sa panunulsol ng estado, para kunin ang likas nitong kayamanan.

May interes ang mga kompanya ng minas sa Abra, lalo na at alam nilang may malaking deposito ng metallic minerals tulad ng gold, silver at copper, at ng non-metallic minerals tulad ng clay at limestone.

Noong Marso 2026, nagsubmit ng mga resolution ang tatlong barangay ng Lacub laban sa pagmimina ng Golden Lake Minerals Resources, Inc. Nitong Abril 2026, naging malakas ang oposisyon ng mamamayan laban sa Exploration Permit Application 129 ng Yamang Mineral Corporation. Ang YMC ay subsidiary ng United Kingdom-based Metals Exploration, na siya ring may-ari ng FCF Minerals na sumira sa kabundukan at mga komunidad ng Runruno, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya. Sakop ng gustong minahin ng YMC ang mga bayan ng Sallpadan, Malibcong, Lacub at Licuan- Baay. Ang masama pa rito, mga pulis at militar ang mga es**rt nito sa komunidad.

Sa Villaviciosa at Luba, plano rin na magpatayo ng 2,000 ektarya na military complex ang Armed Forces of the Philippines. Ang lupang papatayuan nito ay lupang sakahan. Mas gusto nilang gawing kuta ito ng mga pasista (posibleng mga dayuhan pa) kaysa gamitin para sa produksyon ng pagkain.

Ang kapal ng mukha nilang maglagay ng minahan at magtayo ng himpilan sa Abra, gayong naghihirap ang mamamayan nito.

Maraming baryo ang walang maayos na daanan ng tao, walang malinis na tubig, kulang sa gamit, gamot at manggagamot ang mga ospital. Hindi pa maaasahan ang kuryente ng Abra Electric Cooperative! Patuloy na naghihirap ang mga magsasaka dahil sa mataas na presyo ng farm input, habang nananatiling binabarat ang presyo ng palay.

Sa probinsya na karamihan ay mga magsasaka, anak ng magsasaka o may mga kaanak na magsasaka, hindi ka magtataka kung bakit maraming Abreño ang pipili ng ibang landas para makakita lang ng pagbabago. Hindi tayo dapat magtaka kung bakit hanggang ngayon ay may armadong pakikibaka sa probinsya, na siya ring mga dahilan kung bakit may armadong tunggalian din sa iba't ibang panig ng Pilipinas.

Apat hanggang lima na ang naging engkwentro sa Abra mula Hulyo hanggang unang linggo pa lang ng Agosto. Ikinasawi nito ang isang lokal na kombatant si Moises Balabag noong July 19, at tatlo pang hindi napapangalanan kahapon, August 5. Naipakita lang ng mga engkwentrong ito na walang silbi at pakitang tao lang ang pag-aannounce ng gobyerno na insurgency free na ang isang probinsya.

Hindi mawawala ang "insurhensya" kung nananatiling naghihirap ang mga tao, pinagsasamantalahan, kinakamkam ang lupa, tinatayuan ng mga dambuhalang minas at dam, at lalo na kapag inees**rtan pa ng mga pulis af sundalo ang mga kompanya. Hangga't meron ang mga yan, kailangan nating kilalanin na mayroong giyera sibil sa bansa.

Hindi tunay na gustong mapuksa ng estado ang armadong tunggalian hangga't pinapaypayan at sinususugan ang pangangamkam, pang-aapi at pananamantala sa mamamayan. Ang gusto lang nitong puksain ay ang mga armado, ngunit hindi ang ugat kung bakit nag-aarmas.

Palalo! Palalo ang estado!

Itigil ang militarisasyon sa probinsya ng Abra!

URGENT CALL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE AMIDST ONGOING CONFLICT IN ABRA
July 21, 2026

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) raises grave concern over the reported consecutive armed encounters between the 50th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Abra. The first reported encounter occurred at around 12:15 PM on July 19 along the boundary of Tineg and Lacub, Abra, while the second took place at 9:30 AM on July 20, 2026, in Barangay Apao, Tineg, Abra.

This alarming situation follows earlier incidents of violence in the province. In October 2023, CHRA documented the killing of Antonio Diwayan, a resident of Lacub, Abra, by the 77th Infantry Battalion. The AFP claimed that Diwayan was an NPA member supposedly killed during a firefight, a claim vehemently denied by his family and community. In November 2022, reports were also received regarding four farmers who were indiscriminately fired upon by the AFP despite them shouting that they were civilians. This incident, which also occurred in Lacub, Abra, resulted in injuries to two of the victims. These show the persistent pattern of human rights violations and the continuing vulnerability of civilians as military operations continue in Abra.

We urgently call on both parties to strictly uphold International Humanitarian Law, ensuring the protection of civilians and respect for human rights. We renew our call for the government to address the root causes of armed conflict through the resumption of peace talks for genuine socio-economic reforms.

We further call on the Commission on Human Rights and local government units to actively monitor the situation and ensure the safety of civilians and communities. #

A Tale of Two Cordillera Days
Joanna Cariño
CPA Pioneer and Advisory Council
2019 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Awardee

On July 15, 1987, then President Corazon Aquino signed EO 220 after the September 13, 1986 sipat with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) at Mt. Data, Mountain Province. July 15 has since been declared the government’s Cordillera Day.

The sipat was government peace talks with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army, which had split from the New People’s Army in the Cordillera. Soon after, the CPLA was used as a counter-insurgency force in the region, not only against the New People’s Army but even against open democratic activists. It is on record that they admitted to the assassination of Daniel Ngayaan, then chair of the Cordillera Bodong Association and vice chair of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), Abra organizer Romy Gardo, and several others soon after the sipat. Up to the present time, there has been no justice for these extra-judicial killings by this counter-insurgency force let loose by the government.

EO 220 regionalized the Cordillera provinces into the Cordillera Administrative Region, created the Cordillera Regional Assembly (CRA), Cordillera Executive Board (CEB), and Cordillera Bodong Administration CBAd), which were supposed to prepare for regional autonomy as mandated in the 1987 Constitution. These transitional bodies were dominated by CPLA leader Conrado Balweg as kingpin and his endorsed appointees.

The CRA – CEB – CBAd lasted for 13 years, from 1987 to 2000, when Congress cut off its budget as these bodies had no significant achievements as per their mandate.

For the record, the provision for regional autonomy for the Cordillera was the result of the CPA lobby of the Constitutional Commission, as also was the provision on the recognition of the right to ancestral land. In fact, as early as 1984 when the CPA was organized, regional autonomy as our recommended form of self-determination in the Cordillera was already included in the CPA founding documents. CPA was among the many organizations that conducted the Cordillera Regionalization campaign in 1984-85 with thousands of signatures gathered region-wide for submission to the Interim Batasang Pambansa. CPA’s position then was Regionalization and Beyond – to Regional Autonomy. All of these are factual events that many witness participants can attest to.

There is historical revisionism and rewriting of history when government wrongfully tried to negate and coopt the role of the progressive mass movement in advancing indigenous peoples’ rights and calling for regional autonomy. Government overstates the significance of the Mt. Data sipat and the CPLA in the Cordillera movement for regional autonomy. They have made Conrado Balweg as their icon for regional autonomy. He is a safe icon as he was coddled, coopted and used for counter-insurgency not only against the armed combatants of the New People’s Army, but even against the open democratic mass movement and CPA. They forwarded a wrong interpretation of history for their hidden agenda of counter-insurgency. They refused to acknowledge that it was the mass movement that initiated and popularized the call for regional autonomy as the form of self-determination in the Cordillera. In fact, in the days after the sipat, the Corazon Aquino government and the CPLA actively tried to marginalize the Cordillera People’s Alliance.

On the other hand, the significance of People’s Cordillera Day commemorated on April 24 is that we honor Macliing Dulag and the other martyrs in the defense of land, life, livelihood and honor against dictatorship, development aggression and national oppression. Our icon for the Cordillera struggle is Macliing Dulag and we continue in his footsteps in advancing indigenous people’s rights, national freedom and democracy.

Macliing Dulag was was one of the outspoken leaders of the opposition to the Chico dams. He was a traditional leader or pangat of the Butbut tribe from Bugnay, Tinglayan, Kalinga. He was a simple man, unlettered. He was a caminero for road maintenance of the Bontok – Kalinga road.

On April 24, 1980, military troops of the Marcos dictatorship led by Lt. Leodegario Adalem stealthily entered Bugnay in the dead of night and sprayed Macliing’s house with bullets, instantly killing him. He was targeted by the dictatorship in order to intimidate and silence the opposition. However, it had the opposite effect. The people refused to be cowed. They instead turned grief into courage and valor. Macliing’s martyrdom only served to intensify the people’s anger and resistance.

One year after Macliing’s martyrdom, on April 24, 1981, his ili Bugnay hosted a Macliing Memorial gathering to honor Macliing and the other martyrs who had given up their lives in the Chico struggle. In the following years, from 1982 to 1984, Macliing Memorial events were hosted by communities along the Chico river on the anniversary of his martyrdom.

The Macliing Memorial commemorative events grew bigger by the year. Aside from the peacepact partners from the dam-affected communities, there were also more support groups and advocates in attendance. The host indigenous communities were commonly filled to the overflowing, but with everyone leaving with renewed spirits of courage and resistance.

In 1985, five years after Macliing’s murder, April 24 transformed into Cordillera Day. The first Cordillera Day was hosted by Belwang, Sadanga, with the Kalinga Bontoc Peace Pact Holders Association and CPA. The declaration of April 24, Macliing’s martyrdom, as Cordillera Day was an act of self-determination by the popular resistance to Chico, development aggression and dictatorship, and the militant mass movement that it spawned.

Since then, Cordillera Day has annually been commemorated by the CPA and has been held in all of the provinces and hosted by many local communities throughout the region. Usually, the host community and province is where there are flashpoint issues such as the entry of destructive mining or dams. Cordillera Day has become the red-letter day of the progressive mass movement as it commemorates the successful resistance of Kaigorotan against the development aggression of the Marcos Dictatorship and the World Bank, honors Macliing Dulag and other martyrs of IP struggles, provides education and information on current local, regional, and national issues, is a festive event for cultural renewal and exchange, and a solidarity gathering to include advocates of IP struggles.

So, which is your Cordillera Day?

ICYMI: Gulay Pa More held Binnadang, a night market and cultural jam concert featuring local artists from Sagada. It was held at the Sagada Town Hall with booths from local restaurants Sagada Rust n Wood and Gaia Cafe. This was followed by an open jam with the participants.

Young Indigenous defenders are leading the way ✊

IWGIA congratulates Kim “Enkoryaw” Falyao, the young activist from Bai Indigenous Women Network. in the Philippines who has been recognised as an Outstanding Young Human Rights Defender in Amnesty International Philippines’ Ignite Awards for Human Rights.

This recognition honours the courage, leadership and commitment of young people defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights, ancestral lands and communities.

Congratulations from IWGIA. 💙

The recent decision of the municipal trial court in La Trinidad, Benguet ordering former Police Regional Office-Cordillera chief General R’win Pagkalinawan to pay damages to Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chairperson only affirmed what rights groups have long been asserted – that it endangers lives and fosters a climate that enables further human rights violations.