Bill Filed to Create Negros Island Region…Again
Negros Island Region may have a comeback. Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is hoping that the new bill filed by Negrense lawmakers led by Third District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez will be welcomed by the next administration. The bill will hopefully push to revive the defunct Negros Island Region created back in 2018.
House Bill 10534 was filed on November 23, 2021. It seeks to create NIR for greater economic coordination between the Oriental and the Occidental. Meanwhile, On November 17, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill 2453, or the NIR Act. This bill seeks to bring together Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, establishing them as a single administrative region called the Negros Island Administrative Region.
The proposed bill was also signed by six other Negros Occidental representatives. These include Greg Gasataya of the Lone District of Bacolod; Gerardo Valmayor Jr., first district; Leo Rafael Cueva, second district; Juliet Ferrer, fourth district; Ma. Lourdes Arroyo, fifth district; and Stephen Paduano, Abang Lingkod party-list as well as two from Negros Oriental, including Jocelyn Limkaichong, first district, and Arnolfo Teves Jr., third district.
It is very encouraging, and I hope the next administration will support such a measure,” he said, believing that the passage of the bill for NIR revival would be realized during the next Congress.
The Rise and Fall of Negros Island Region
Negros Island Region was created by former President Benigno Aquino III on May 29, 2015, through Executive Order (EO) 183 that separated Negros Occidental from Western Visayas and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas. As the next administration of current President Rodrigo Duterte came into office, Negros Island State was pushed by the governors. Eventually, NIR was then officially dissolved through Executive Order 38 on August 7, 2017, due to no budget for NIR.
