Now that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed into law Republic Act 12000, which creates the Negros Island Region, composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, the people of those provinces which formerly belonged to either Region 6 or 7 will hope to enjoy the benefits of being under a single administrative region, located on the same island in the case of Negrenses.
“This union is long overdue and makes very practical sense, especially in the Negros Island, where people are located on one island but are governed under separate administrative regions,” the President said during the ceremony in Malacañang.
Officials from Negros Island and Siquijor who shepherded and supported its creation, welcomed the return of the NIR, which suffered a short-lived existence after being created via an executive order of the late President Benigno Aquino III in 2015, only to be abolished by his successor, Rodrigo Duterte in August 2017, who cited funding issues, although many suspected that it was payback for the island’s lack of support for his presidential run.
Prior to the NIR, residents of Negros Occidental would have to cross the Guimaras Strait to Iloilo City, its regional capital, while those from the Oriental side would need to go all the way to Cebu City, whenever they had to attend to matters that required the attention of the regional authorities.
Now that the NIR has been created via RA 12000, it is hoped that government will be brought closer to the people of Negros Island, which should not only make life more convenient and improve the ease of doing business, but also attract more investors. Because this time it was created by law, it will be more difficult to reverse or rescind, so Negrenses can and should start to build our new region with earnest, with the east and west working together towards a long term outlook where everyone benefits equitably, and no one is ignored or left behind.
Negros Occidental and Oriental have been playing second fiddle to their corresponding regional capitals for far too long. Now that we are one, our potential for growth and development should be bigger, and our capacity to take the necessary steps to maximize all the resources of this new region, has been more than doubled. Let us grab this opportunity to start over and build upon our past to make our new Negros Island Region among the best in this country, and by extension, the Negrense people the envy of the nation.*
