NEGROS Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is hoping that the next administration would be more accommodating on the push to revive the defunct Negros Island Region (NIR).
Lacson, on the sidelines of the Negros Occidental Governor's Conservation Achievement Awards held at the Negros Residence in Bacolod City on Wednesday, November 24, said this following the move of Third District Representative Jose Francisco "Kiko" Benitez and eight Negrense congressmen to file a bill creating NIR.
"It is very encouraging and I hope the next administration will support such a measure," he said, believing that the passage of the bill for NIR revival would be realized during the next Congress.
Filed on November 23, House Bill 10534 seeks to create NIR for greater economic coordination.
"Also, for more efficient delivery of public services to promote sustainable and inclusive economic development in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental," Benitez, in a Facebook post, said.
The signatories of the bill introduced by him included Negros Occidental representatives Gerardo Valmayor of First District, Leo Rafael Cueva of Second District, Juliet Marie Ferrer of Fourth District, Ma. Lourdes Arroyo of Fifth District, Greg Gasataya of the Lone District of Bacolod and Stephen Paduano of Abang Lingkod Party-list, and Negros Oriental representatives Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong of First District and Arnolfo Teves Jr. of Third District.
On November 17, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill 2453, or the NIR Act.
The bill seeks to bring together Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, establishing them as a single administrative region called the Negros Island Administrative Region.
"The establishment of the Negros Island Region in 2015 was a long-awaited victory for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental," Zubiri said in a statement.
"Negrenses have been lobbying for NIR as far back as the eighties, so its abolishment in 2017 was a blow. Sana nabigyan ng chance ang NIR," he added.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental currently belong to two different administrative regions -Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Region 7 (Central Visayas), respectively.
The statement said the provinces' considerable distance from their regional centers -- Iloilo for Occidental and Cebu for Oriental -- has long made government services largely inaccessible to many Negrenses.
In May 2015, former President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Order 183, allowing for the creation of the NIR, with the aim of "[accelerating] social and economic development and [improving] the delivery of public services in the aforementioned provinces."
In October 2016, the executive remarked that the NIR was too costly and was not a priority for the government, it said.
Following this, Zubiri filed Senate Resolution 203, in support of the continued recognition of the NIR.
By 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte would go on to sign Executive Order 38 formally abolishing the region, it added.
"I was visiting Negros recently - it's where my dad was born, actually - and the number one concern there is the reestablishment of the NIR," Zubiri said.
The Negrense senator said everyone was looking forward to the development of the region and to have the earlier EO revoked that quickly was "demoralizing."
"We need to make this a law so that whatever administration we are under, the NIR will stay," he said, adding that "the NIR will entail additional cost on the part of the national government, but it's worth the investment."
Zubiri said "in the long term, it would be more economical and efficient having the two provinces under one administrative region."
"Our people in Negros deserve accessible government services," he added. (With reports from Erwin P. Nicavera)