Indigeneity and Citizenship: The Cordillera People in the Philippines

• In Event: Citizenship in the Peripheries: Identities in SE Asia (Mini-Conference 1/3)

Abstract

Apart from the Moro movement in Mindanao, the struggle of the Cordillera people in the Luzon uplands is considered as a case of politicized ethno-mobilization in the Philippines. While different Muslim secessionist movements have successfully resisted national integration to the Philippine state, the same cannot be said about the more indigenous-oriented case of the Cordillera peoples. This paper explores the possible explanations regarding the failure of the ethnic movements in this region to assert their distinct political and national identity. While existing studies have pointed to structural oriented factors such as the weaknesses of the Philippine state and historical legacies associated with the Marcos dictatorship, this paper focuses more on the relational dynamics within the movement itself generated by the democratization process after 1986. In particular, it argues that the diffused nature of the Cordillera autonomy project, its assimilation within the larger communist struggle, the conflicts between movement leaders, and the penetration of traditional political elites within the Cordillera project helped influenced the failure of the Cordillera movement’s struggle for autonomy. This Cordillera case can shed light on how some unintended consequences of oligarchic-oriented and elite-led democratization can negatively shape the outcomes of sub-national mobilization and empowerment that this process is supposed to engender.

Author

• Aries A. Arugay, University of the Philippines-Diliman