By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday he would call his counterpart Negros Oriental Governor Manuel Sagarbarria to discuss the reestablishment of the Negros Island Region (NIR).
According to Lacson, based on initial information he received, Sagarbarria will not oppose any move to reestablish the NIR.
He is confident that Sagarbarria will fully support the reestablishment of the region.
The governor would give his counterpart a call instead of visiting him personally in Negros Oriental to discuss the issue.
Lacson also welcomed the news that the NIR bill is now on the agenda of the Senate and scheduled to be discussed after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on July 24.
Earlier on Monday, July 3, Negros Occidental 3rd District’s Congressman Jose Francisco Benitez, one of the authors of the House bill, revealed that Senator JV Ejercito’s committee on local government had already held two hearings.
“They probably want to finish it. The filing in the Senate is simpler than the filing in the Lower House. They will decide which version and how to push it forward,” Benitez said.
In March, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 7355, or An Act Establishing the NIR.
The bill was then forwarded to the Senate, but it slowed down as Negros Oriental has yet to give its official position paper on the proposal.
Sagarbarria’s predecessor, former Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, opposed the reestablishment of the region, citing Negros Occidental’s “political dominance,” “unequal voting” within the Regional Development Council meetings if the NIR was established, and the “cultural divide” wherein Negrenses on the the island’s Occidental side speak Hiligaynon, while those on the Oriental side use Cebuano or Bisaya.
Degamo was assassinated on March 4 of this year in his residential compound in Negros Oriental’s Pamplona town.
He was replaced by Governor Carlo Jorge Joan Reyes, but also passed away on June 4, due to an illness./DGB, WDJ