• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
There will be no budget for the newly created Negros Island Region (NIR) in 2025, Senator Imee Marcos disclosed on Thursday.
Before her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., signed the NIR into law in June this year, Senator Marcos said that the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) was already prepared, planned, and completed.
The 2025 NEP, in the amount of P6.352 trillion, was forwarded by Malacañang last week to Congress for deliberations.
Marcos, who was the guest speaker of the Philippine Councilor’s League – Negros Oriental chapter activity in Bacolod City, said the 2025 allocations for NIR did not make it to the deadline for budget preparations.
Under Republic Act 12000 or the NIR Act, a total of P3.6 billion, spread out over three years, has been allocated to establish regional offices for NIR.
While the P1.2 billion budget for each year, over a period of three years, is embedded in the law, it is nowhere to be found in the proposed 2025 budget, the presidential sister said.
Marcos added that she already discussed it with Negros Oriental Governor Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria and Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, who also attended the PCL – Negros Oriental chapter activity at the SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City.
The NIR technical working group is slated to meet next week to discuss and formulate the Internal Rules and Regulations in the implementation of the new region in Visayas.
“We need to come up with a game plan so that we can include it in the (budget) deliberations, even only for skeletal offices of most important departments, both in Bacolod and Dumaguete cities,” Marcos said.
I am hopeful that we can discuss it with PBBM, she added. At the same time, Marcos said she will also solicit the opinion of government financial managers.
In the previous iteration of the NIR, the existing budget of national government offices in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were initially utilized for the new region to be operationalized.
Marcos also discussed the possibility of scrutinizing the existing budget and discretionary funds of the regional offices of Regions 6 and 7, where Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, were formerly affiliated with, for use by NIR.
Sagarbarria said non-inclusion of the NIR budget is among the “birth pains” of the newly created region. “I know it’s not going to be instant. But I hope the budget will really come, since the P1.2 billion for each year is included in the law,” he added.
During the transition period, which may take two to three years, the Negros Oriental governor said he expects more programs and economic development to stir everything in the entire region. “It’s practically all positive,” Sagarbarria said.
Vice Gov. Ferrer, on the other hand, said there is nothing to worry as the PBBM administration will not abandon its commitment to NIR, and Senator Marcos and other Negros solons will find the means to address the budget concerns.
Senator Marcos said the original timeline to make NIR operational is after the midterm elections next year, with full operationalization two years after.*
