NIR operation now at 70% – DILG

The operation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) is now at 70 percent, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.

Teodora Sumagaysay, assistant regional director, said on Wednesday that the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 1200 that established the NIR was already published signaling the start and operations of the different offices in the new region.

Sumagaysay said the clusters on agriculture and land-related offices, the peace and order clusters as well as governance clusters are located in Negros Occidental.

The human development clusters and the infrastructure clusters are to be located in Negros Oriental, she pointed out.

She added that majority of the offices are already established but are in concurrent capacity.

“The budgets are operating from the budget from Regions 6 and 7,” she said, adding that it will still depend on the respective agencies citing the case of DILG which is at 80 percent operations.

The four local government units of Negros Occidental, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental and Siquijor are already operating under the NIR, Sumagaysay said.

“We are not fully independent as there are still programs that go through the two regions,” she said.

Sumagaysay said the budget for NIR will be included in the 2026 budget.

In June last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act 12000 or the NIR Act, creating a new administrative region comprising the provinces of Negros Occidental, including the highly-urbanized Bacolod City, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

The NIR Act separates Negros Occidental and Bacolod City from Western Visayas (Region 6), and Negros Oriental and Siquijor from Central Visayas (Region 7).

Already established offices in the NIR include the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Agrarian Reform, Commission on Elections, Office of Civil Defense and Philippine Statistics Authority.* (EYA)