ANNOUNCEMENT ON CORDILLERA DAY 2010

The CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE  is pleased to invite you to the 26th Cordillera Day Celebrations, with the decentralized celebrations in the Cordillera provinces from April 17-23, 2010, and the regionally centralized celebration on April 25, 2010 in Baguio City. The Cordillera Day celebrations have been spearheaded by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) since 1985 from the earlier 1981-1985 Macliing Memorials. CPA’s Baguio Chapter, the Tongtongan Ti Umili, will host the regional celebration in Baguio City.

This year’s Cordillera Day is guided by the central theme Advance the Politics of Change!  in the light of the local and national elections in May 2010, where many Filipinos, including indigenous peoples,  hope for reforms in government and response to the burning issues they face, such as the economic crisis, human rights violations,  climate change, development aggression, among others. These urgent concerns are the challenges of the 26th Cordillera Day celebrations for a unified people’s agenda on the May 2010 elections and a Cordillera people’s declaration to advance the politics of change.   

The whole day celebration will be attended by 6,000 delegates. It will start with an indigenous opening ritual and ecumenical service.  Other features of this colorful and solidarity event include cultural presentations and exchange, speeches, cultural parade, solidarity night, solidarity messages from indigenous peoples’ rights advocates. Progressive partylists, local and national candidates espousing the politics of change will attend, with the participation of indigenous peoples and advocates from Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Manila, other parts of the country, and overseas.  

Like in past Cordillera Day celebrations, a registration fee of P300 shall be collected from each delegate to cover food expenses. Delegates are enjoined to contribute food items such as rice and vegetables. We also humbly request for messages of solidarity which will be read both in the decentralized and centralized celebrations. Kindly send your messages on or before April 15, 2010.  In addition, we are also soliciting financial contributions to help defray expenses on food, travel and logistics for delegates coming from grassroots organizations.  Please find attached the draft Programme, Cordillera Day Background, and Advisory for your use and information.  For more details, please contact or visit us at the regional office at

No. 55 Middle Ferguson Road, Barangay A. Bonifacio Baguio City
Telephone No. 63-73-304-4239             Fax No. 63-74-443-7159
Email: cpa@cpaphils.org

Thank you and we hope you can be with us on this solidarity event.

CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE
For the Defense of the Ancestral Domain and For Self Determination