• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Presidential sister and Senator Imee Marcos yesterday said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be signing Negros Island Region (NIR) bill into a law “within a few days.”
This was announced by Senator Marcos during the opening of the 28th Panaad sa Negros Festival, where she was the guest of honor and speaker, at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City, amid the opposition and call of some in the Church sector for President Marcos Jr. to veto the bill.
Senator Marcos said the NIR bill was already approved by both Houses of Congress. “This is just a formality and the President will no doubt sign it,” she stressed.
Marcos, who is seeking re-election, disclosed “many, many are looking forward to it,” noting also that it has already been partially implemented, with certain government offices already opened in the two Negros provinces.
“Gumastos ang gobyerno, tapos hindi tinuloy. Yan ang problema (The government spent, then they did not continue. That’s the problem),” the lady senator said.
When Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency office in 2016, he abolished the NIR, which was created through an executive order by his predecessor, the late President Benigno Aquino III. However, it was resurrected by Negros Island solons, with support of the governors of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, through the filing of a bill creating a new region, which was also adopted and approved by the Senate.
As to the call for the veto of the NIR, Senator Marcos said “I think the objections of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental are long standing, as they asserted that many times and again that both economy and well as their social and cultural fabric is more affiliated with Cebu, rather than Bacolod.”
And yet, she added, those qualms, doubts, and assertions have already been laid to rest. These issues have been long debated, even during the previous administration of the late Gov. Roel Degamo.
“I believe this would proceed as planned,” said Senator Marcos, apparently referring to signing of the NIR into law.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson described the arguments raised by Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes and some priests as the “same old arguments.”
Lacson said he welcomes the letter sent by the diocese to the President expressing their opposition to the NIR.
When the president decides, he has all the information in his hands,” he pointed out.
I trust that the decision is “still favorable, despite the opposition,” Lacson said.
Negros Oriental Governor Manuel Sagarbarria also said he respects the stand of the Diocese of Dumaguete, opposing the creation of NIR.
Sagarbarria assured his constituents that they need not worry about the location of regional offices of national agencies, pointing out that once the NIR is created, “regional offices will be located in two provinces.”
Satellite offices, he added, will be created as well in the province situated far from the regional offices. “There is not much to lose, but more to gain,” Sagarbarria said.
Edward Du, president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. supported the stand of the two Negros governors.
Du also denied the claim of the Diocese of Dumaguete regarding the consultation process for the creation of the proposed one-island Region.
“Consultations for the NIR spanned five months from November 2014 to April 2015, with significant participation from Negrenses. Before this period, forums were also held in Dumaguete City and Bacolod City, during the tenures of former Governors Dodo Emilio Macias II and Daniel Lacson.
Du criticized NIR critics for creating “unnecessary controversy, and raised questions regarding their opposition’s timeline, lack of objections to previous governmental actions, and the practical benefits of NIR.”
Creating a new region like NIR is “an administrative restructuring and not a political division, with respondents in his Facebook poll showing majority support for NIR,” he said.
Du added that the NOCCI will launch an Information, Education, and Communication campaign to highlight the advantages of NIR.*
