House adopts Senate Negros Island bill with reg’l office assignments

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY — The House of Representatives has adopted a Senate bill creating the Negros Island Region (NIR), which designates where regional offices will be established.

Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez of Negros Occidental’s 3rd District said the measure would no longer need to pass through the bicameral conference committee but would have to be officially enrolled in both houses of Congress.

“It will then be sent in about two weeks to the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his signature,” he added.

The lower house’s version did not dictate where the regional centers would be located but left it open to the transitional team to decide.

READ: Senate okays Negros Island Region bill

The Senate, however, decided to put the specific assignments of the regional offices in its version of the bill.

Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria of Negros Oriental’s 2nd district and chairperson of the House committee on local government, on Sunday also said there would no longer be any bicameral conference committee meeting. The NIR bill would be transmitted to Malacaָñang.

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the placement of the specific assignments of the regional offices in the Senate bill leaves no flexibility in the future.

Senate Bill 2507 states that the NIR regional offices assigned to Negros Occidental would include the Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Agrarian Reform, and Human Settlements and Urban Development, Justice, Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, and Department of National Defense.

Also to be established in Negros Occidental are the Departments of Budget and Management, Finance, Foreign Affairs, National Economic and Development Authority, Commission on Audit, and Commission on Elections.

Senate Bill 2507 assigns the following regional offices to Negros Oriental: Departments of Education, Social Welfare and Development, Health, Labor and Employment; Public Works and Highways, Transportation, Information and Communications Technology and Energy, Trade and Industry, Tourism, Science and Technology and Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Commission on Higher Education, Civil Service Commission, and Philippine Statistics Authority.

Provincial or satellite offices will be put up in Siquijor.

The Senate passed the NIR bill on third and final reading on March 12.

The bill intends to revive the creation of the NIR to be composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, including the City of Bacolod, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.

Negros Occidental is currently part of Western Visayas and Negros Oriental and Siquijor are part of Central Visayas

In 2015, the NIR was established through Executive Order No. 183 issued by then President Benigno Aquino III. It was later abolished in 2017 by former President Rodrigo Duterte through Executive Order No. 38.