By Redji Cawis

 

CORDILLERA, Philippines  — Malacañang has declared September 11, 2026, a special non-working day holiday in the Cordillera Administrative Region for the Mount Data Peace Accord anniversary.

This is in lieu of September 13, the actual anniversary, which falls on a Sunday.

“It is but fitting and proper that the people of the Cordillera Administrative Region be given full opportunity to participate in the occasion and enjoy the celebration,”  Proclamation No. 1389, signed by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto by authority of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., stated.

The Regional Development Council, through RDC Chairperson Apayao Governor Elias Bulut Jr., had requested that Sept. 11 be declared as a special holiday in the region instead of Sept. 13 so that people can fully participate in the occasion.

The day marks the 40th anniversary of the 1986 “Sipat” or the Mount Data Peace Accord, the first peace pact successfully entered into by the national government with the armed groups in the history of the peace process in the country.

On Sept. 13, 1986, the Government of the Philippines led by President Corazon Aquino and the Cordillera Bodong Administration-Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CBA-CPLA) led by rebel priest Conrado Balweg entered into a peace agreement at the Mount Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province. The historic event ended the hostilities between the armed group and government forces in the region.

The agreement paved the way for the inclusion of a provision in the 1987 Constitution for the establishment of an autonomous region in the Cordillera and the signing of Executive Order 220 on July 15, 1987, for the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in preparation for its becoming an autonomous region.

In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Marcos Jr. said that the government is now ready to formalize the historic completion of the peace pact with the CBA-CPLA. (JDP/RMC- PIA-CAR)