• GILBERT P. BAYORAN

Majority of Negros Island solons and two of its governors have signed the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Negros Island Region (NIR) Act, amid the reservations of Representative Mercedes Alvarez and those from Siquijor island.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has removed a provision in the NIR implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the establishment of satellite offices of national government agencies, which was initially approved by the technical working group (TWG), composed of the NIR legislators and governors, during a meeting held at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
In the presence of Teodora Sumagaysay, OIC DILG regional director for NIR, and DILG Central Office director Dennis Villaseñor, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday signed the implementing rules and regulations of NIR, witnessed by Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz.
This was after Negros Oriental Gov. Manuel L. Sagarbarria, Rep. Manuel T. Sagarbarria (2nd district, Negros Oriental), Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong (1st district, Negros Oriental), Negros Occidental Reps. Gerardo Valmayor, Alfredo Marañon III, Juliet Marie Ferrer, Emilio Bernardino Yulo, and Bacolod Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, and Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic Development Authority,also signed the IRR of NIR.
While she did not sign the IRR, copies of which already were forwarded to the other Negros lawmakers and the three governors, Alvarez said that she sent a letter to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), asking to reinstate the stricken provision in the IRR.
Although, she said that for purposes of expediency, she will not insist on it anymore as it may cause the delay in the operationalization of the NIR.
Lacson said the concerns of Rep. Alvarez could be raised later.
“I think that is one of the contentions, also of Siquijor. We can raise that issue again,” he added.
Siquijor Gov. Jake Vincent Villa and Siquijor Lone District Rep. Zaldy Villa, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, have yet to sign the IRR.
As stipulated in the IRR of RA 12000, regional offices of the Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Agrarian Reform, Human Settlements and Urban Development, Justice, Interior and Local Government, Defense, Budget and Management, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Philippine National Police, as well as the Commissions on Elections and Audit, will be established in Negros Occidental.
Negros Oriental, on the other hand, will have the regional offices of the Departments of Education, Social Welfare and Development, Health, Labor and Employment, Public Works and Highways, Transportation, Energy, Information and Communications Technology, Trade and Industry, Tourism, Science and Technology, Securities and Exchange Commission, TESDA, Commission on Higher Education, Civil Service Commission, and Philippine Statistics Authority.
With regard to the funding, the IRR states that the amounts necessary to carry out all provisions of the NIR Act and these rules shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations of agencies concerned, subject to availability, budgeting, accounting and auditing laws, rules and regulations.
Thereafter, the amounts needed for the continuous implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act subject to the usual budget process, it added.
All government agencies are required to submit their transition plans to the NIR Technical Working Group for inclusion in the formulation of NIR road map, within 90 days after the IRR effectivity.
The existing regional or appropriate level offices in Regions 6 and 7 have been also required to provide assistance in facilitating the initial operations of the NIR, until such time that the necessary NIR offices are established.*