BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negrense senatorial aspirant Alex Lacson joins the mounting calls to revive the Negros Island Region (NIR), which was abolished by President Rodrigo Duterte when he assumed office in 2016.
As a Negrense, Lacson, who hails from Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, said he supports the proposal to revive NIR which was created through an executive order by the late President Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino III.
Since it was created through EO, Lacson said it was not given a budget by the administration of Duterte. But if it will be passed by Congress into a law, then the Department of Budget and Management is mandated, or compelled, to earmark a budget for it, he added.
If elected as a senator, Lacson said he will push for the NIR creation through a law.
Former Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Dino Yulo, who is running for congressman in the 5th district of Negros Occidental, also vowed to work for NIR revival, if given a chance to be a member of the House of Representatives.
Lacson is among the 12 senatorial candidates of presidential aspirant Leni Robredo and her vice-presidential candidate Senator Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan.
He also pledged to work out for the full utilization of the P2 billion fund component of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA), which was reduced only P267 million last year.
If the P2 billion fund is fully utilized, it could subsidize sugar farmers from the impact of skyrocketing price of fertilizers, Lacson, who paid a courtesy call to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City.
Lacson, senatorial candidates Erin Tañada and Teddy Baguilat will also join Vice President Robredo and Pangilinan during their two-day sorties in Negros Occidental on November 5 and 6.
Robredo, whose announcement for a presidential run for the 2022 national polls in early October triggered what political observers called a “Pinkdemic,” will address representatives and sectoral leaders of the Negros for Leni Movement headed by former Governor Rafael Coscolluela and volunteers belonging to the newly-formed Laban Leni of Negros Occidental led by lawyer and businesswoman Pinky Mirano-Ocampo.
Hundreds of pink-clad well-wishers await Robredo at the Bacolod-Silay International Airport before her convoy slowly motors toward the Airport Access Road, where scores of vehicles of Negrense supporters will be lining up for a stationary caravan that ends at the junction leading to The Ruins as the convoy continues on its way to the Provincial Capitol for a call on Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Coscolluela said.
Her visit coincides with the Cinco de Noviembre celebration, marking the province’s liberation from the Spanish regime.*
