3 bishops seek creation of Samar Island Region
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — Three Catholic bishops are calling for the creation of a Samar Island Region (SIR) in a bid to address widespread poverty and concerns about peace and order on the third largest island in the country.
Bishop Crispin Varquez of the Diocese of Borongan said the proposed SIR separating the island’s provinces of Northern Samar, Western Samar, and Eastern Samar from the Eastern Visayas region would give them an opportunity to access government services and funds given to regional groupings.
Eastern Visayas is composed of the Leyte Island provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte, the Samar provinces, and the island province of Biliran. Tacloban City, a highly urbanized city autonomous from Leyte province, is the region’s economic and government center.
Varquez made the appeal during the meeting on June 9 of the Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development (Sippad), a network of various sectors coming from the church, local governments, academe, civil society organizations, youth and media that look into issues and concerns affecting the three provinces of Samar.
“In order to develop the island of Samar, we need to appeal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to make a law declaring ‘One Island, One Region,’ and that island is no other than the island of Samar,” the prelate said in his message during the Sippad meeting in Borongan City.
Aside from Varquez, the other prelates who appealed for the creation of SIR were Bishop Isabelo Abarquez of the Diocese of Calbayog and Bishop Emmanuel Trance of the Diocese of Catarman.
Welcome move
The call for having an SIR got the support of Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, noting that the call of the prelates was borne out of concern for the welfare of Samareños.
“I am happy that the bishops are pushing for the One Samar, One Region (movement). That is a good initiative if only to stress the need to prioritize Samar Island in terms of economic development,” Evardone said in a separate statement.
Varquez hoped that the proposed SIR would lead to economic development and bring about a much-needed road network to connect many of Samar Island’s inaccessible localities.
At present, the three Samar provinces have a combined population of 1.11 million.
Based on a study conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2021, Northern Samar has a poverty incidence rate of 19.3 percent, Eastern Samar with 29.4 percent, and Samar with 27.0 percent.
The island also continues to be hounded by the presence of the New People’s Army, especially in Northern Samar where two of the communist fronts are based.
