AMID reports of the possible abolition of the Negros Island Region (NIR), the region’s Technical Working Group (TWG) kicked off an information campaign to address the contentious issues in the establishment of the region.
TWG member Ma. Lina Sanogal, provincial planning and development coordinator of Negros Occidental, said they prepared the information sheet to answer questions relative to Executive Order 183 creating the NIR on May 29, 2015.
The establishment of NIR separated Negros Occidental from Western Visayas, or Region 6, and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas, or Region 7.
Sanogal said the information sheet will be forwarded to various sectors.
Among the issues outlined is the proposed P19-billion budget for NIR next year.
The TWG said the regional line agencies, and state universities and colleges submitted a P12-billion proposed budget for next year to the Regional Development Council intended for personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses, and capital outlay while the programs, projects, and activities amounted to P30 billion.
It added that the budget is not an issue considering that the regional offices were able to operate for about a year now even if there was no separate allocation for NIR , as the agencies were still sourcing funds from the previous regions of the two Negros provinces.
“Revoking NIR on the issue of the budget, being allegedly costly and a waste of money to spend P19 billion for such two-province region, is somewhat short-sighted and misses the point of the unification,” the TWG said.
Spending whatever amount on a region with two provinces having poverty rates of 32.2 percent for Negros Occidental and 50.1 percent for Negros Oriental will never be a waste of money. Governments exist not to save money but to deliver public services where it is most needed, to alleviate the plight of the poor, the TWG pointed out.
They also said the existence of NIR paved the way for the creation of the Regional Development Council, Regional Peace and Order Council, Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and Regional Statistical Committee.
“Once NIR is dissolved, these councils will be disbanded and the two Negros provinces will lose the venues for an integrated development planning, program and project implementation and monitoring,” the group said.
Moreover, the 35 interim offices of regional line agencies in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental and in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental are already fully operational, the TWG emphasized.
Most of the regional offices have rented spaces, with some having hired job order personnel to augment staff detailed from other regions, they added.
A proposed 500-hectare permanent regional center has also been identified in Kabankalan City.
Biz groups appeal
Meanwhile, various business groups in the region appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to retain NIR.
They “urge, request, and petition” Duterte to maintain the status quo and allow NIR to continue operating as a region, pending future budgetary support.
The position paper was signed unanimously by Edward Du, president of Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Roberto Montelibano, president of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Frank Carbon, regional governor of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Western Visayas and NIR; and Paul Luis Azcona, president of Kabankalan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The groups said they have several ongoing projects which benefited the people of two provinces, especially the far-flung areas.
Moreover, they said the data from Philippine Statistics Authority in March this year showed that Negros Oriental was no longer in the list of Top 10 poorest provinces in the country.
“The province of Negros Oriental has greatly benefitted from the creation of NIR in terms of poverty reduction,” the TWG added.