32nd Cordillera Day Public Invitation
April 20, 2016
We are pleased to invite you to the Baguio-Benguet celebration of Cordillera Day 2016 or the 32nd Cordillera Day on April 24, 2016 at the Baguio People’s Park. The celebration is guided by the theme “Advance Indigenous Peoples’ Struggle for Self-Determination! Onward with the Politics of Change! and will kick off at 9AM in a parade starting at the Post Office Park. For our guidance and information, there will also be provincial celebrations in Abra (April 24), Kalinga (April 24), Ifugao (April 22), and Mountain Province (April 22-23) headed by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chapters therein.
Our celebration for Baguio-Benguet will highlight local issues of mining, destructive energy projects, agricultural liberalization, climate change, environmental degradation and good governance. In light of the local and national elections on May 9, Cordillera Day 2016 serves as a platform to challenge local and national candidates including political parties to take a stand on the politics of change with a concrete electoral agenda on the recognition of indigenous peoples’ right to ancestral domain and self-determination and on the rights and welfare of various sectors. As in past celebrations, Cordillera Day 2016 serves as a venue to strengthen solidarity and foster cultural exchange among indigenous peoples and advocates.
For the success of Cordillera Day 2016, we look forward to your presence, support and solidarity. We welcome solidarity contributions to help defray food and transport expenses of local delegates to the celebrations including other logistical needs. We also look forward to receiving your messages of solidarity not later than April 20, which will be read in all the celebrations. A registration fee of P500 will be collected from national and international delegates to cover their meals during the celebration. Do come in your indigenous attire.***