By ADRIAN STEWART CO
The Senate approved the bill which seeks to establish the Negros Island Region (NIR) on the third and final reading yesterday.
With 22 votes and no abstention, Senate Bill (SB) 2507 proposes placing Negros Occidental including Bacolod City, Negros Oriental and Siquijor under NIR.
SB 2507 seeks to improve the delivery of basic government services on Negros Island, through the establishment of regional government offices, and promote decentralization to strengthen local autonomy.
“The re-establishment of the NIR will ensure the effective delivery of government services to the public in the region,” Senate committee chair on local government Senator JV Ejercito said.
“The province of Siquijor is included due to its historical ties and geographic proximity to the island of Negros,” Ejercito, who has roots from Bacolod, said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, among the principal authors of SB 2507, lauded the measure’s approval that will benefit his fellow Negrenses.
“This is a dream come true for all of us who are working to have a Negros Island Region,” Zubiri, who traced his roots from Negros Occidental’s Kabankalan City, said.
“This bill, once enacted into law, will further boost development on Negros Island and Siquijor, and ease the burden of our people in dealing with the national government agencies,” he added.
He said there is a growing clamor for the NIR’s establishment, since residents of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental still have to travel to either Iloilo or Cebu to transact with the regional offices of several national government agencies.
A technical working group (TWG) will formulate a roadmap for the institutional arrangements of the NIR, arrange the organizational development requirements for development planning and investment programming, and map out the provision of public services in the proposed region.
Composing the TWG are representatives from the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Budget and Management, the Offices of the Governor of the provinces, elected members of the House of Representatives of the provinces, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which will serve as its secretariat.
The measure will now be submitted to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. for signing into law.
In March last year, the House of Representatives unanimously approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 7355, the counterpart measure of the Senate bill.
The NIR was first established in 2015 through Executive Order (EO) 183 by former President Benigno Aquino III, but it was abolished by then President Rodrigo Duterte through EO 38 in 2017.
Duterte said establishing regional councils and offices for the NIR required substantial appropriation to be fully operational, thus competing with government priority programs and projects for funding./ASC, WDJ