Marcos to sign NIR bill in a few days – Imee

BACOLOD CITY: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sign the Negros Island Region (NIR) bill into law “within a few days,” Sen. Imee Marcos said on Monday, April 15 when she attended

The opening of the 28th Panaad sa Negros Festival, where she was the guest of honor and speaker, in Bacolod City.

“This is just a formality and the President will no doubt sign it,” she said. “Many are looking forward to it. It has already been partially implemented, with certain government offices already opened in two Negros provinces. The government spent, then they did not continue. That’s the problem.”

When Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016, he abolished the NIR, which was created through an executive order by his predecessor, the late President Benigno Aquino III.

However, the NIR movement was resurrected by representatives from Negros Island who filed a bill creating a new region, which was adopted and approved by the Senate.

The bill was supported by the governors of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.

Dumaguete City Bishop Julito Cortes, however, asked the President to veto the NIR bill.

“I think the objections of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental are long standing, as they asserted that many times and again that both economy and well as their social and cultural FABRIC IS MORE AFfiLIATED WITH Cebu, rather than Bacolod,” the senator said.

“Those qualms, doubts and assertions have already been laid to rest. These issues have been long debated, even during the previous administration of the late Gov. Roel Degamo. I think many of those concerns have been put to rest,” she added.

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson downplayed the opposition to the bill.

“Same old arguments,” he said. “That the opposition was the same opposition before. That Negros Oriental is inferior to Occidental. That is not true. We will respect what they need and they will respect what we need.”

Lacson, however, said he welcomes the letter sent by the Dumaguete City Diocese to the President expressing their opposition to the NIR.

“I welcome that also at least there’s another side. When the president decides he has all the information in his hands,” Lacson said.

“I trust that the decision is still favorable despite the opposition.”

Lacson found an ally in Negros Oriental Gov. Chaco Sagarbarria. Sagarbarria said he respects the stand of the Diocese of Dumaguete City but is giving his full support to the bill.

The governor assured his constituents that they need not worry about the location OF REGIONAL OFfiCES OF NATIONAL agencies.

He pointed out that once the NIR is created, “regional offices will be located in the two provinces.”

Satellite offices, he said, will be created as well for the province situated far from the regional offices.

“There is not much to lose but more to gain,” Sagarbarria said.

Edward Du, president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. also supported the NIR bill.

Du denied the claim of the Diocese of Dumaguete regarding the consultation process for the creation of the proposed one-island Region.

Consultations for the NIR spanned five months from November 2014 to April 2015, “WITH SIGNIfiCANT PARTICIPATION from Negrenses.”

“Before this period, forums were also held in Dumaguete City and Bacolod City during the tenures of former governors Dodo Emilio Macias II and Daniel Lacson.

Creating a new region like NIR is “an administrative restructuring and not a political division, with respondents in his Facebook poll showing majority support for NIR,” Du said.

Du said that Nocci will launch an information, education, and communication campaign to highlight the advantages of NIR.