NIR Bill a priority for Visayan Bloc

The revival of the Negros Island Region (NIR) will be a priority of the Visayan Bloc when Congress resumes.

Bacolod Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya said they made the agreement during a meeting before the end of the last Congress.

All of the congressmen agreed to be authors of the bill seeking the creation of the NIR, he said.

Gasataya added that the proposed NIR will now include the island province of Siquijor aside from Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

Rep. Francisco Benitez (3rd district) said the Visayan Bloc will convene for the 19th Congress with some new members as others have graduated.

He said that he is gathering all signatures for the filing of the bill on Monday or Tuesday.
A total of 12 congressmen from Negros island and Siquijor are jointly filing the bill seeking the re-establishment of the NIR.

Earlier, Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Benitez said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may issue an executive order reestablishing the NIR ahead of the passage of the bill creating it.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri has committed a counterpart bill in the Senate.

The revival of the NIR also gets a much-needed boost after Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI) expressed support for the proposed passage of a law for reviving it.

Edward Du, former NOCCI president said that law would ensure that the region could not be easily abolished.

Du was reacting to media reports that re-elected Senate majority leader Zubiri announced he would lead efforts for Congress to legislate the creation of the NIR, which brings together the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

The NIR had separated Negros Oriental from Region 7 or Central Visayas and Negros Occidental from Region 6 or Western Visayas.

“We are hopeful that this will come to fruition this time, considering that the first attempt was not given a chance to fully take off due to budgetary constraints,” he said.

The NIR was established on May 29, 2015, through Executive Order 183 signed by then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

President Rodrigo Duterte abolished the new region on Aug. 7, 2017, noting the need for sufficient funding for priority government programs and projects.

“It is sad that the NIR was abolished during the incumbency of President Duterte for lack of funds, although the few years that it was operating independently of its mother regions, some progress had already been made,” Du noted.

He said NOCCI and their counterparts from Negros Occidental are strongly advocating for the new region to allow for easy, convenient, and faster transactions with the government as well as the development of the island.* (EYA)