Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri | PHOTO: Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau
BACOLOD CITY — Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate will push for the allocation of funds for the Negros Island Region (NIR) during the deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, one of the principal authors of the NIR bill, said legislators would examine the proposed national budget.
“By that time, we would have made adjustments already with the House NIR contingent as well as with us in the Senate for the inclusion of the NIR budget,” he told the Inquirer on Aug. 2.
Senator Imee Marcos, during a visit to Bacolod on Aug. 1, said the budget proposal, called the National Expenditure Program, did not include funds for the NIR in 2025.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said they already knew that the proposed 2025 national budget did not include the NIR funds.
“I hope they could successfully convince the national government to include the NIR in its budget for 2025,” he added.
Lacson said he would ask about the NIR budget during the Technical Working Group meeting on Aug. 9.
President Marcos Jr. signed the law creating the NIR composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor on June 13.
Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito earlier said that if the NIR budget was not in the proposed budget “then it is the job of the legislature to allocate the funds for the NIR.”
Ejercito, principal author of the NIR in the Senate, earlier said that a P1.2 billion annual budget over the next three years has been recommended for the NIR.
Negros Oriental Gov. Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria said he was thankful to the president for signing the NIR law and gave the assurance that the provincial government was helping provide space for the regional offices on his side of the island.
Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, for his part, said the NIR was a dream come true and there would be ways to seure funds for it during the budget deliberations.