“It is for the benefit of all Negrosanons that the two provinces of Negros will become one region, both for practical reason and in terms of programs and projects that the new region will get.”

This was stressed by Atty. Caesar Distrito, spokesperson of Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, after the Senate has approved on third and final reading of the bill seeking to revive the creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) on Tuesday, March 12.

Distrito said that Benitez from the very start had made his position clear that he was for the immediate passage and gave his support to the creation of NIR.

The NIR is to be composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.

The House Committee on Appropriations earlier approved the funding provisions for NIR, with the initial budget to be taken from the Department of Interior and Local Government for the purpose of creating a Technical Working Group (TWG) that will formulate the new region road map.

The TWG will be headed by the Office of the President, with all district representatives of the proposed new region, all governors, and all mayors as members.

The NIR was created under an executive order issued by the late president Benigno Aquino III in 2015. It was abolished through an executive order issued by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.*