The Mount Data Peace Accord is a

peace deal A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surrend ...

signed between the government of the Philippines and the

Cordillera People's Liberation Army The Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA) was a militant organization based in the Cordillera region in the Philippines founded by Conrado Balweg. Formation In 1986, the CPLA broke away from the communist New People's Army (NPA), critici ...

on September 13, 1986, ending hostilities due to the latter's campaign for greater autonomy for the

Cordillera region The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR; ilo, Rehion/Deppaar Administratibo ti Kordiliera; fil, Rehiyong Pampangasiwaan ng Cordillera), also known as the Cordillera Region and Cordillera (), is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

Background

Prior to 1966, the Cordillera region was administered under one unit, the old

Mountain Province Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually shor ...

. Abra has been its own independent province. In June 1966, the province was divided into smaller provinces—namely, Abra,

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Benguet; ilo, Probinsia ti Benguet; ), is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the islan ...

Ifugao Ifugao, officially the Province of Ifugao ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ifugao; tl, Lalawigan ng Ifugao), is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Lagawe and it borders Benguet to the ...

, and Kalinga-Apayao Under the Regionalization Law or Presidential Order No. 1 issued by President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martia ...

, the Philippines' provinces were organized under 13 regions. The Cordilleran provinces were grouped under two separate regions: Benguet (including

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines ...

) and Mountain Province were included under Region I (Ilocos Region), and Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao were included under Region II (Cagayan Valley). An armed movement in the

that advocated for greater autonomy for people in the area arose from the awarding of of land, which covers parts of Abra, Mountain Province, Kalinga-Apayao, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur, to the Cellophil Resources Corporation (CRC) and Cellulose Processing Corporation (CPC), which mostly affected the

Tinguian The Itneg (exonym "Tinguian" or "Tingguian") are an Austronesian ethnic group from the upland province of Abra in northwestern Luzon, in the Philippines. Overview The Itneg live in the mountainous area of Abra in northwestern Luzon who descen ...

Itneg The Itneg (exonym "Tinguian" or "Tingguian") are an Austronesian ethnic group from the upland province of Abra in northwestern Luzon, in the Philippines. Overview The Itneg live in the mountainous area of Abra in northwestern Luzon who descen ...

people of Abra. The proposal to build the Chico Dam also rose tension in the region. Several ethnic groups of the Cordillera launched an organized effort to air their grievances against CPC through dialogue, although this was met by suppression by the Marcos administration. Some Tinguian, including

Conrado Balweg Conrado Balweg was a former Filipino Catholic priest and rebel who was the founder of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army, a militant group which advocated autonomy for the Cordillera region in the Philippines. He was also known by the ' ...

, joined the communist rebellion led by the

New People's Army The New People's Army ( fil, Bagong Hukbong Bayan), abbreviated NPA or BHB, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), based primarily in the Philippine countryside. It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aimi ...

(NPA). The

led by Balweg splintered from the

(NPA) to independently launch an armed struggle fight for

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It st ...

of the people of Cordillera.

Deal

On September 13, 1986, the Cordillera Bodong Administration–

(CBA–CPLA) and the

government of the Philippines The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and de ...

made a "''sipat''" (

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...

) at the Mt. Data Hotel, in

Bauko Bauko, officially the Municipality of Bauko is a 4th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 32,021 people. Bauko is from the provincial capital Bontoc and from ...

. As part of the indigenous treaty, the two sides exchanged peace tokens; the CBA–CPLA gave representatives of the Philippine government a spear and a shield, and the Philippine government presented the Cordilleran side an assault rifle (from the Armed Forces of the Philippines) and a Bible and rosary (from President

Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People ...

Aftermath

The Cordillera People's Liberation Army remains an extant organization, which has ceased armed operations, and the

Cordillera Administrative Region The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR; ilo, Rehion/Deppaar Administratibo ti Kordiliera; fil, Rehiyong Pampangasiwaan ng Cordillera), also known as the Cordillera Region and Cordillera (), is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

was formed in preparation for the possible transition of the area to an autonomous region. An autonomous region in the Cordilleras is yet to be established, with two plebiscite (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

) proposing the establishment of a Cordillera autonomous region failing to gain enough traction.

References

{{reflist 1986 in the Philippines History of the Cordillera Administrative Region Ceasefires History of Mountain Province History of the Philippines (1986–present) Military history of the Philippines Communist armed conflicts in the Philippines