Teddy Baguilat

Born to Mr. Teodoro Baguilat Sr., a retired official of the Department of Agriculture and resident of Kiangan, Ifugao, and Mrs. Felisa Brawner, a lawyer and a resident of Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr. was born in Manila on July 30, 1966. At the early age of 13, Baguilat decided for himself to return to his father's hometown of Kiangan in Ifugao and rediscover his ethnic roots and identity as an indigenous Ifugao. There, he studied at the St. Joseph School for his secondary education and graduated as salutatorian. He then pursued his tertiary education at the University of the Philippines-Diliman where he took up Bachelor of Arts in Mass communication major in Journalism and was an active student leader in the campus.[3]

From 1987 to 1991, Baguilat worked at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as an Executive Assistant to the Undersecretary. He also worked as a production assistant for GMA-Channel 7, as a reporter for the People’s News Service and as an Executive Assistant for the Philippine Ecological Network. In 1991, he decided to go home to Ifugao to put up a foundation to help students and at the same time help protect the environment.[4]

In 1992, Teddy ran and won as Municipal Councilor of Kiangan. He would at the time become the youngest Councilor in the Philippines at the age of 25. From 1995-2001, Teddy served as the mayor of the Municipality of Kiangan and was awarded the Dangal ng Bayan Award in 1996. He was also awarded as One of the Ten Most Outstanding Civil Servants in the Philippines by the Civil Service Commission. The award was given by then Philippine President Fidel Ramos.[5]

Baguilat ran for the governorship of Ifugao in the 2001 elections and won under the banner of the Liberal Party. During his first term, Ifugao was removed from being one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines in 2003. Despite the gains of his governorship, he narrowly lost in a re-election bid in 2004. He afterwards served as the president of the Save the Ifugao Rice Terraces Movement (SITMo), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that seeks to promote and protect the cultural treasures of Ifugao and its indigenous people. Baguilat ran again for politics in 2007 and was elected as the governor of Ifugao for the second time.[6]

Most of his programs/projects were focused on promoting education by securing scholarships to needy students through the Tertiary Education Assistance Program (TEAP); employment assistance for the graduates and skilled workers in coordination with TESDA; providing sustainable employment through livelihood and enterprise development for small and medium entrepreneurs, peoples’ organizations and cooperatives in terms of skills training, technology transfer, product packaging and equipment support which includes One Town One Product marketing promotion and financial assistance; generating clean and cheap energy through Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy; promoting Ifugao as an eco-cultural tourism center; conservation and management of the Ifugao Rice terraces (a UNESCO World Heritage Site); rehabilitation of provincial and municipal roads; using good governance strategies to fight graft and corruption; and reducing maternal and infant deaths with the province-wide investment plan for health-BADDANG and the AYOD community health teams.[7]

Before leaving office, the Ifugao Provincial Board filed a case against him for gross negligence during his term as Governor of Ifugao. The filers of the case were inclined to Baguilat's opponent in the incoming elections. The case was later dismissed by the court due to lack of evidence.[8]

In 2010, Baguilat ran for congressman and won, despite threats from his opponents. He represented the lone district of Ifugao in the Philippine House of Representatives, the lower house of Philippine Congress. During his first term as representative, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras was officially removed from the list of endangered world heritage sites through a successive government program which he started during his governorship.[9] Baguilat again ran in 2013 and won by a landslide as representative of Ifugao to the House of Representatives. Baguilat was one of the few initial supporters of the proposed New HIV/AIDS Policy bill in the House, which would address the rising HIV cases in the country.[10]

In the 2016 congressional elections, Baguilat ran and won by a landslide again in his native Ifugao province in the Cordillera Administrative Region. He assumed his position and final term as Representative of the Lone District of Ifugao in June 2016 under the 17th Congress of the Philippines. He ran for the speakership in the 17th Congress but lost to Pantaleon Alvarez. He was then chosen as the leader of the minority bloc in the House of Representative via tradition of voting on the speakership. He became the first person from an indigenous community to be elected for the position. However, a few days after, he was booted from the position after more than 20 lawmakers from the majority shifted to the minority to take control of the bloc, therefore, voting Baguilat's ouster from minority leadership and replacing him with a pro-majority lawmaker. The event was criticized by numerous personalities and organizations as the move solidified a super-majority in the House where both the minority simply became a puppet of the House Speaker.

Baguilat is one of the key figures in the human rights campaign within the House of Representative under the regime of Rodrigo Duterte. He has supported the SOGIE Equality Bill which would protect the rights of LGBT Filipinos, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act which gave free public college and university education in the country, the Higher Teacher's Pay bill which increase the salaries of all public teachers, the Divorce bill which would legalize divorce in the country, the National Land Use bill which would protect the usage of lands especially in indigenous people ancestral lands, the Free Wifi Law which provides free Wifi access in all public places, the Department of Fisheries bill which would establish a separate department for aquaculture, the Mental Health Law which would mandate all schools to teach mental health education and for the government to provide aid for issues on mental health, the 100 Days Maternity Law which gives more legal maternity leaves for mothers, the Cordillera Organic Law which would transform the present Cordillera Administrative Region into an autonomous region for the indigenous ethnic communities, the Chico River Basin bill which will establish an authority responsible for the highly-significant Chico River in the Cordilleras, the Indigenous Education bill which mandates the usage of indigenous education in all indigenous communities in the country, the Indigenous Barangay bill which aims to establish fully-fledged barangays where indigenous communities are present, and other bills focusing on indigenous rights.[11][12]

He has consistently voted for liberal ideals. He voted against the re-imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines and the 1,000-peso budget for the Commission on Human Rights. He has also criticized the government for hiring bloggers who have been known for spreading fake news that benefit Duterte's regime. He has also criticized the Philippine Drug War of Rodrigo Duterte which has killed more than 23,000 Filipinos in less than 24 months, and the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the country's cemetery for heroes. Baguilat has also protested against the unfair imprisonment of human rights defender and senator Leila de Lima.[13] Baguilat is the vice president for internal affairs of the liberal bloc.[14] Due to his liberal ideals and positions, two graft cases were filed against him again. The opposition called the case filings as 'political persecutions'. Six months after the cases were filed, the Sandiganbayan cleared Baguilat of graft charges on a technicality, because the Ombudsman's investigation was unreasonably delayed.[15] In November 2018, Baguilat was elected as President of the Global Consortium for Indigenous Conserved Communities Areas (ICCA Consortium), an advisory body to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), during the organization’s 13th General Assembly held in Bishoftu, Ethiopia.[16]