By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The substitute bill seeking the reestablishment of the Negros Island Region (NIR) was approved by the House Committee on Local Government on Tuesday, January 10.

Under the proposed bill, the NIR will include the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor Island.

Aside from the House of Representatives, its counterpart, Senate Bill 1236 has already hurdled the Senate Committee on Local Government in December of last year.

A technical working group (TWG) — composed of representatives from the Office of the Governor and elected members of the House of Representatives in the three provinces, including Bacolod City — will formulate a roadmap for the institutional arrangements of the NIR.

“The DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government] is hereby designated as the secretariat until the TWG has completed its task,” the bill read.

The TWG’s final report and recommendation shall be approved by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who has the final decision, it added.

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is now scheduled to meet Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo next week to hold further discussions related to reestablishing the NIR.

Degamo voiced a somewhat dissenting opinion about NIR’s revival in December of last year, citing “cultural differences,” a comment regarded by business groups in Negros as “shallow.”

The NIR was established through an executive order issued by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2015, but it was dissolved two years later due to the high cost of maintaining the region./DGB, WDJ