By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A lawmaker in Negros Occidental is confident of the passage of the Negros Island Region (NIR) bill after hurdling the Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday, February 22.

In an interview with members of the Capitol media, 6th District Congresswoman Mercedes Alvarez said the NIR bill will now be forwarded to the Committee on Rules for second reading, and to the plenary which involves debates.

“Since all of us congressmen in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor are sponsors of the bill, we hope that there will be no objections, so that it will be passed for the third and final reading,” Alvarez said.

The Committee on Appropriations made some amendments to the initial budget in the bill, she said.

A technical working group — headed by the Office of the President, governors, lawmakers and mayors of the three provinces — will also formulate the NIR roadmap.

The lawmaker also said Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has yet to formally submit his opposition to the NIR’s reestablishment.

With the session ending in March, Alvarez is hoping that the bill will be given priority by the Committee on Rules.

While the bill is underway to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Alvarez said it would work well, showing that Marcos is in favor of reviving the region.

Previously, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Frank Carbon made a suggestion to handover the chairmanship of the Regional Development Council (RDC) to Degamo as a response to his “equal footing” issue.

Degamo made a counter-proposal during his meeting with Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier this month to create a third province in Negros before agreeing to revive NIR to address equal footing in the RDC.

However, the counter-proposal raised eyebrows among local government officials in the province.

The NIR Act of 2022, or Senate Bill 1236, already hurdled the Committee on Local Government in December of last year.

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