BAGUIO CITY— Malacañang has declared Sept. 13 a special non-working holiday in the Cordillera region to commemorate the 1986 peace talks between the government and the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army(CPLA).
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued Proclamation 575 on Monday to commemorate the 1986 ” Sipat”, an indigenous ritual that was preliminary to the forging of peace pact among Cordillera tribes.
Medialdea said in the proclamation that it was fitting and proper that the people of Cordillera be given the full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with proper ceremonies.
The 1986 Mount Data Sipat Agreement was the first peace agreement successfully entered into by the national government during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino.
On Sept. 13, 1986, the CPLA, led by Fr. Conrado Balweg, heeded the call for peace by then President Corazon C. Aquino through the forging of a sipat, or the peace agreement at the Mount Data Hotel in Bauko, Mountain Province.
The “Sipat” allowed both sides to begin negotiating peace, leading to the issuance of Executive Order No. 220 on July 15, 1987, which created the Cordillera Administrative Region. (Pamela Mariz Geminiano/PNA)
