"It's a promise fulfilled," Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said following the Senate's passage of the bill creating the Negros Island Region (NIR).
Lacson said Monday, March 18, that he is hoping that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will sign the NIR measure before his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July.
"It's a promise fulfilled but there will be challenges affront that will be ironed out in the Bicameral Committee. But I don't see any problem and I hope the president signs the law before his Sona," Lacson said.
Lacson pointed out that the challenges with the NIR would be about the regional offices to be distributed in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
Senator JV Ejercito, principal sponsor of the NIR Bill said the NIR will go through the bicam so that issues about the distribution of regional offices would be addressed properly.
He said the financial requirement of establishing regional offices is one area the president is looking into.
He said each regional office would need P30 million to P50 million and that establishing the new region would cost about P1.2 billion annually.
Lacson, meanwhile, is offering the 25-hectare capitol property in Talisay City for the regional offices to be assigned to the province under the NIR.
He said they are apportioning about five hectares of the property as the regional center.
"It's good development but there's work to be done. There will be challenges and one is the permanent site for the regional center," Lacson said.
He said temporarily the two provinces would have regional offices assigned but eventually, they would have more permanent sites.*