On January 24, 2024, the People of the Cordillera Administrative Region (”CAR”) asserted their autonomy from the Philippines government by establishing their own independent government and Ethnic Nation, the continuing nation of Cordillera, which was established since time immemorial and comprises a 198,000 square miles ancestral domain territory north of the island of Luzon which comprises the seven provinces of Abra, Apayo, Baguio City, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province. Their choice for autonomy was mostly driven by the meagre PHP 1.00 ($0.018) annual budget allotted to CAR by the Philippines Government year after year.
The unanimous principle of “Free and Prior Informed Consent” of the people of the Cordillera Nation reflected their desire for economic independence and protection from exploitation and abuse. GGMT provided the hope and vision that catalyzed this movement.
Capitalizing on rights granted the ICC/IPs by various laws and international conventions, including the 1986 Executive Order #220, the 1989 Republic Act 6766, the 1989 International Labor Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, and Section 26 of the U.N’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Sections 7, 13, 16 and 17 of the Philippine Republic Act No. 8371, the CORDILLERA NATION was established to address longstanding injustices against all indigenous peoples and chart an economic path forward under the guidance of Yahweh, God of the Universe.
The IPRA law, enacted on October 29, 1997, is globally celebrated for being the first legislation to explicitly recognize indigenous peoples’ inalienable rights to their lands and resources. Ten years later, on September 13, 2007, this landmark legislation inspired the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Section 26 of the declaration affirms the indigenous peoples’ rights to the lands, territories, and resources they have traditionally owned or used. On March 16, 2024 and on April 20-21, 2024 community leaders and the People of the Cordillera Region assembled in Peñarubbia, Abra, Cordillera, unanimously chose to become an autonomous nation within the Philippine Islands to be known as the Cordillera Nation, a member of the Assembly of First Nations Philippines-Maharlika Federal Monarchy, that shall be shortly joined by three (3) other active member nations that are members of the Assembly of First Nations Philippines-Maharlika Federal Monarchy. These three new nations will be formed to establish the IP oversight over massive quantities of their physical gold stored on ancestral tribal land since time immemorial.
The Cordillera Autonomous Nation is the natural evolution of Executive Order No. 220 S. 1987 which created the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Peace Pact system within the “Primacy Customary Law and Jurisdiction”, namely the written “PAGTA” law.
The Cordillera Nation will operate its own monetary system that will automatically allow fiat currencies to be instantly converted into 100% gold-backed monetary units or standardized medium of exchange and store of value and that is “Holy to Yahweh” and which will be legal tender in all 254 ancestral domains of the indigenous people of the Philippines.
It’s gold-backed monetary units (scrips) will be transferable and exchangeable through its own Baas (Banking as a Service) monetary platform. This new system will allow all indigenous tribal communities to be set free of a fiat monetary system that has been used against them for a very long time, and to set the course for their own economic destiny and survival.