BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
As promised during his recent visit to Negros Occidental, Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 2453, or the Negros Island Region Act, which seeks to bring together Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Bacolod City, establishing them as a single administrative region called the Negros Island Administrative Region.
Zubiri said “we need to make this a law so that whatever administration we are under, the Negros Island Region will stay.”
The NIR, which was created through an executive order issued in 2015 by the late President Benigno ”NoyNoy” Aquino III, was abolished by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017 to the dismay of Negrenses.
“The establishment of the Negros Island Region in 2015 was a long-awaited victory for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, with Negrenses have been lobbying for the NIR as far back as the eighties. So, its abolishment in 2017 was a blow, Zubiri said.
Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo and Partido Reporma presidential bet Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson aired their support to the restoration of NIR during their recent visits to Negros Occidental.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier expressed his hope that NIR revival will be supported by the next administration.
Admitting that NIR will entail additional cost on the part of the national government, Zubiri said “it’s worth the investment”.
In the long term, it would be more economical and efficient having the two provinces under one administrative region. Our people in Negros deserve accessible government services, he stressed.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental currently belong to two different administrative regions – Region VI and VII, respectively. The provinces’ considerable distance from their regional centers (Iloilo, for Occidental; Cebu, for Oriental) has long made government services largely inaccessible to many Negrenses.*
