By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Cordillera folk mourn the death of a veteran human rights lawyer and staunch advocate of the indigenous people’s rights to self-determination. Atty. William “Billy” Funa-ay Claver, born July 16, 1936, passed away on December 15 at the age of 75 in his home in Tabuk City, Kalinga.

Colleagues in the legal profession, legislators, activists and Cordillerans, mourn the loss of a man who dedicated his life for the betterment of the Cordillerans, indigenous peoples and the greater Filipinos.

“We join all the awakened Cordillerans in expressing our grief. He had been in the forefront of regional autonomy and remembered well in his advocacy whether in Congress or outside, including in international venues,” said lawyer Jose Mencio Molintas, a forme United Nations expert on indigenous issues, and who like Claver, is a former chairman of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.

Founding CPA chairman

“Claver was in the forefront of the struggle for the right to self-determination. As a the founding chairman of the CPA, he was active in the popularization of the right to self-determination, including the recognition of the right to ancestral domain and genuine regional autonomy as the expression of self-determination in the Cordillera,” said Abigail B. Anongos, the present secretary-general of CPA.

“The highest honor and tribute we can give Claver is to persevere in the struggle for indigenous peoples rights and human rights; that way we continue to give life and meaning to his legacy as a CPA pioneer, human rights lawyer, legislator and champion of IP rights,” added Anongos.

Minnie Degawan, former CPA secretary-general, also urged to continue the struggle that Claver has begun, adding: “He was a staunch advocate for the indigenous peoples at a time that it was not an “in” thing and he will be remembered with fondness and respect by the people he has served well.”

Human rights lawyer

Recognizing his untainted record in the legal profession, the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines here also expressed their condolences to the Claver family. And they remember him as one of the few Cordillerans who took the cudgel in human rights lawyering.

“As a genuine human rights lawyer, he is fearless. He is a man of principle as he stood his ground against the Marcos dictatorship and its enormous machinery to the point of risking his life and that of his family,” said lawyer Frank Calpito, president of the IBP Baguio-Benguet chapter.

Pointing out the death of Claver is a great loss for all, Calpito said Claver championed the causes for the oppressed people and promoted the respect of human rights specially for the members of the cultural community. Claver was an active official of the Free Legal Assitance Group, a noted group of lawyers rendering legal services to victims of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship.

Among the high-profile cases’ Claver was the prosecutor in the case of Kalinga pangat Macliing Dulag, who was murdered by soldiers led by Lieutenant Leodegario Adalem on April 24, 1980. Macliing led the struggle against the Chico River dam, a World Bank-funded project of then Pres. Marcos. This was to establish four dams along the Chico River in the Mountain Province-Kalinga area.

A Bontok, Claver was once legal counsel of the giant mining Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) in the ‘70s but left the company for his advocacy.

“Claver could have embraced corporate lawyering but chose instead to take up the cudgels for indigenous people’s rights since the 1970s,” said Giovanni Reyes of Sagada, Mountain Province.

Progressive legislator

Claver was a member of the Constitutional Commission in 1972. When democracy was re-established in 1986, he was elected as Congressman of Kalinga in 1988 until 1992.

In the House of Representatives, he became a chairman of the Committee on National Cultural Communities. There he introduced and filed various bills that would be the forerunner of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.

Even Cordillera congressmen recognized the efforts of Claver. “We owe to him that we are now empowered to fight for our rights through the bills he filed that paved the way for the crafting of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Acts (IPRA),” said Ifugao Cong. Teddy Baguilat Jr. In his media statement.

Claver was one of those who championed for the recognition of indigenous peoples rights and Cordillera autonomy when only a few brave ones at that time were speaking out for the people, said Baguilat, the present House chairman of the Committee on National Cultural Communities.

Claver he will be remembered. “He is a pillar in the Cordillera peoples movement,” says Benguet State Professor Ruth Batani. And as Mucha Sim says: “A life devoted to the struggle for freedom is a life well lived.” # nordis.net

www.nordis.net

By JOANNA K. CARIÑO / CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE

On behalf of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, it is an honor to pay tribute to Atty. William F. Billy Claver on the occasion of this book launching of this collection of some of his speeches and statements. I will speak of his indispensable role in the growth of the Cordillera indigenous people’s mass movement and in the wider Filipino people’s movement for national freedom, social justice and democracy, for my memories of him are also the nodal points in the early growth of the Cordillera militant mass movement.

I first met Billy Claver in the anti-Marcos dictatorship struggle in the Cordillera. During the early years of martial law, a popular resistance against development aggression and in defense of ancestral land developed in response to the destructive Chico mega-dams project and Cellophil Logging Corporation. As an indigenous lawyer, Billy Claver had to respond to the many cases of repression and human rights violations, mass arrest and detention, torture, and extra-judicial killings committed against his own people, who were merely defending their ancestral lands, culture and indigenous life.

Billy Claver was among the founders of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) along with former senators Jose Pepe Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada, who also became advocates of indigenous people’s rights in the anti-Chico dams struggle. Billy served as chairperson of FLAG Region II at the time when the Cordillera provinces had not yet been regionalized and were still divided into regions I and II. I remember that while Billy was able to recruit Cordillera lawyers to FLAG, he had the hardest time recruiting lawyers from the Cagayan Valley.

I’m sure many of us have seen the classic picture of Senators Diokno and Tanada with the elders/papangat of Kalinga. This was taken during the International Fact-Finding Mission after Macliing Dulag was murdered by government troops on April 24, 1980. After Lt. Leodegario Adalem was charged in the military court martial, Billy served as the private prosecutor during the trial of the case in Camp Allen, with support from the other FLAG lawyers in the Sanidad law office.

There were a series of broad anti-fascist formations that were set up during the US-Marcos Dictatorship, and Billy invariably was among the personalities who composed these alliances. In 1981, there was a Cordillera-wide Lawyers and Professionals consultation and Billy was key in mobilizing lawyers in the Cordillera provinces to this activity. The consultation resulted in the formation of the Cordillera Consultative Committee (CCC) with Billy as chair, Fr. Patricio Guyguyon as vice chair, and myself as secretary and coordinator of our office Cordillera Consultation and Research, the forerunner of the Cordillera Resource Center for Indigenous People’s Rights. I remember that among the activities of the Cordillera Consultative Committee were discussion groups on indigenous people’s rights and self-determination. It was then that Billy shared with us that during the aborted 1971 Constitutional Convention of which he was a part, he had already tried to propose an Ancestral Land Rights Law, but he came up against stiff resistance from the mining and corporate lobby. It was from these discussion groups that we moved in the direction of defining the substance and features of self-determination in the Cordillera. It was also the Cordillera Consultative Committee which convened the First Cordillera Multi-Sectoral Land Congress, which was the first organized effort at deepening the the issues of ancestral land in the Cordillera.

In 1983, the first Northern Luzon Wide Para-Legal Training was sponsored by FLAG and the Cordillera Consultative Committee. Again Billy was key in convincing Cordillera professionals to be part of the para-legal network. From here, para-legal training was re-echoed in the Cordillera provinces and Northern Luzon.

In 1984, in an effort to project “normalization,” Marcos called for national elections in the face of widespread opposition to the fascist dictatorship, especially in the aftermath of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. Billy initially had wanted to run in the elections for the Batasang Pambansa, but he soon recognized the futility of participation, and agreed to chair the Cordillera Coalition of Organizations for the Restoration of Democracy (Cordi-CORD), which campaigned for the boycott of the farcical elections. Cordi-CORD participated in the national lakbayan, sakbayan and other protest activities against the US-Marcos dictatorship.

On June 1-3, 1984, a Cordillera People’s Congress was convened in Bontoc by the Cordillera Consultative Committee and Cordi-CORD, and the Cordillera People’s Alliance for the Defense of Ancestral Domain and Self-Determination was born (photos 3). Billy Claver was the founding chairperson of CPA, and he served as our chairperson up to the historic events that led to the downfall of the dictator. He offered the use of his house in Bontoc, which served as the CPA office during our early years. As CPA chairperson, Billy would preside over the meetings of the Regional Council (photos 4). I remember that we made it a point to bring the council meetings to the different provinces of the Cordillera so that there would be occasion to meet with the member-organizations of the alliance. As a people’s lawyer, he would also participate in the fact-finding missions that were organized to investigate the numerous human rights violations of the Marcos dictatorship.

In 1985, CPA hosted a gathering of indigenous peoples in Asia, called Dialogue Asia, sponsored by CCA-URM and NCCP, in Baguio City. Billy gave the keynote address at this consultation, and he shared our collective efforts at fleshing out the substance and features of self-determination in the Cordillera. It will be remembered that it was Dialogue Asia which led to the formation of the Asia Indigenous People’s Pact (AIPP). As self-determination is a common aspiration of indigenous peoples, from Dialogue Asia he was invited by the Ainu indigenous people of Japan to visit there and speak on indigenous people’s rights and self-determination.

This same year, Billy and I travelled to the United Nations in Geneva to attend the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. This was the first participation of CPA in the UN mechanisms for indigenous peoples. In the succeeding years, CPA would sustain its participation in the UN processes, and was consistently part of the indigenous lobby which would culminate with the passage of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007.

In 1986, after the EDSA I uprising, CPA was one of the early groups invited by Cory to MalacaHang since Billy was among her allies during the snap elections. In this meeting, we articulated the demands of the Cordillera people – the cancellation of the Chico and Cellophil projects, the return of the land grabbed from the Ibaloi people of Taloy Sur, recognition of ancestral land rights and regional autonomy, among others. From here, CPA had an expanded Regional Council meeting in the Marcos Park at Taloy Sur. Billy was appointed as Officer-in-Charge for Kalinga province by Cory and therefore had to resign as chair of CPA.

When Billy was elected as representative of Kalinga to the Lower House of Congress after having served as elected governor of Kalinga, his goal was to be able to draft and have enacted legislation recognizing indigenous people’s rights. He was among the original proponents for the passage of an Indigenous People’s Rights Act.

In 2002, during the commemoration of Cordillera Day in Dupag, Tomiangan, Kalinga, CPA honored our founding chair Billy Claver. Although already in a wheelchair, Billy still found it in him to go to Dupag to celebrate with us there. Again in 2009, Billy joined us during the 10th Congress of CPA where he gave an inspirational talk reminiscing about the anti-dictatorship struggle and CPA’s early days.

Today, in the twilight of your life, we Cordillera activists salute you, Atty. William Billy Claver, for your service to the Cordillera people and Philippine indigenous peoples as a trailblazer in the advocacy for indigenous people’s rights and as a human rights lawyer. You spent the best years of your life in the struggle. You have touched our lives, and have served as a model and inspiration for many. The Cordillera People’s Alliance will carry on with the struggle.

Agbiag ni Atty. Billy Claver! # nordis.net

This was the speech of Joanna Cariño during the book launching of William Billy Funa-ay Claver (Selected Speeches) on December 14 at the Quirino Hall, Teachers Camp, Baguio City.

The book WILLIAM FUNA-AY CLAVER Selected Speeches and Statements – Towards Genuine Implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Law, was launched in Baguio City on December 14, 2011 through the efforts of Giovanni Reyes, with the help of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), editorial support from Kathleen Okubo, and funding support from Tebtebba Foundation. Here, the militant mass movement in the Cordillera paid tribute and honor to Atty. William Claver. The book launching was witnessed by more than 400 participants from all over Northern and Central Luzon, many of them indigenous peoples, who had just concluded a conference on destructive mining and human rights – topics close to the heart of Atty. Claver.

There were two earlier events where the CPA-CDPC network honored Atty. Billy Claver. These were during the April 24, 2002 celebration of Cordillera Day in Dupag, Tabuk, Kalinga, and at the 2009 10th Congress of the CPA in Baguio City. Even in a wheel chair, Atty. Claver was able to attend these two events and give more inspiring messages in response. He should have been at the third event which launched his book and which immortalizes in print his inspiring messages on human rights and indigenous people’s rights, but he was then already preparing for that legendary travel to the sky world. He finally bade goodbye the following day – December 15th. Some would say he just waited for his book to be launched.

The militant people’s movement can never give enough tributes and special honors for Atty. Claver: for his services, leadership, and inspiration in advancing human rights and indigenous peoples rights. As founding Chairperson of the CPA in 1984, and also as one of the founders of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) along with former Senators Jose Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada, he played an indispensable role in the growth of the Cordillera people’s mass movement and the wider Filipino people’s movement for national freedom, social justice and democracy.

We in the Cordillera people’s movement have gained richly from working with Atty. Claver. This included research, substantial discussions, then principled unities and action on the particular agenda of indigenous peoples rights; whether as Regional Autonomy as the form of self-determination in the Cordillera, or legislation in the halls of Congress, or advocacy in the United Nations. Our collaboration with him was a rich combination of theory and practice. A historic and enduring result of the work with Atty. Claver is the CPA and what it has achieved up to the present.

The full name of the CPA is Cordillera Peoples Alliance for the Defense of Ancestral Domain and for Self-Determination. This vision was made more concrete by the basic CPA paper on the “Substance and Features of Self Determination in the Cordillera,” with Atty. Claver’s great contribution. The CPA as defined then when Atty. Claver was our Chairperson is the same today – advancing the particular agenda of indigenous people’s rights, and general human rights, as well as people’s development within the framework of nationalist democratic politics.

Even as we mourn Atty. Claver’s passing, we also celebrate his life and works. And we thank his family for having shared Atty. Claver with us. To paraphrase a great Asian teacher, “All men must die, but death varies in significance. Some deaths are lighter than a feather, while there are deaths as heavy as a mountain.” The passing away of Atty Claver is as heavy as the Cordillera mountains where he lived, served the people, and died. We will continue your legacy of courageous service to the people, and you will continue to inspire us. #

CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE: Regional Council and Advisory Council; Provincial Chapters: Abra, Benguet, Ifugao (Adhoc), Kalinga, Mountain Province, Baguio City and several municipal chapters; Regional Sectoral Alliances — APITTAKO regional peasant alliance, Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera, Innabuyog regional women’s alliance, Organisasyon Dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad (urban poor), Progressive Igorots for Social Action (PIGSA youth), AnakBayan Cordillera (youth), Cordillera Elders Alliance, Alliance of Concerned Teachers Cordillera, COURAGE Cordillera (government employees); 197 basic sectoral and community member organizations; International Solidarity Partners and CPA Friends Abroad.

Consortium of Development Programs in the Cordillera: CDPC; CHESTCORE; CLC; CorDisRDS; CWEARC; CYC; DINTEG; Kaduami; MRDC; NMIN.