Robredo says preserving NIR is best option for local people
If Vice President Leni Robredo had her way, she would go preserving the Negros Island Region (NIR) for the benefit of the people from these provinces rather than reverting it back into two separate regions.
“Ito iyong tinutulak natin for a very long time, ‘di ba? Naibigay na ito dati, pero iba iyong paniniwala ng pamahalaan (We are pushing for this [merging] for a very long time, right? We have achieved it before, however, the present administration sees a different belief),” Robredo said in an interview in Bacolod City on Friday.
“Naniniwala ako na it would do Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental good kung pag-isahin iyong grouping niya,” he said.
The merging of Negros Oriental and Occidental into one region was one of the Aquino administration’s pet projects to efficiently deliver government services to the people in these areas.
President Rodrigo Duterte, however, dissolved the NIR under Executive Order 28 in August and reverted the two provinces back into two different regions.
READ: Palace abolishes Negros Island Region in new EO
“For a very long time, maraming reklamo na halimbawa, iyong Negros Oriental, iyong regional offices niya nasa, ‘di ba? Nasa Cebu. Iyong Negros Occidental naman, nagshe-share with Iloilo. Na mas maraming common between Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. Nahahati lang kayo ng bukid, ‘di ba? Kaya it makes sense na ito sana iyong grouping na nandito,” she said.
(There are a lot of complains for example in Negros Oriental, its regional offices are located in Cebu, while Negros Occidental is sharing with Iloilo. But there are common [grounds] between Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. You are just being separated by fields, right? That is why it makes sense in this type of grouping.)
Aquino’s EO issued in May 2015 created the NIR merging the Oriental and Occidental provinces, which has a population of around 4.5 million. The NIR placed the two regions into one island region.
But with Duterte’s EO, the Negros Occidental will be returned to the Western Visayas’ (Region 6) jurisdiction while Negros Oriental will go back to Central Visayas (Region 7).
Western Visayas’ regional center is based in Iloilo, while Central Visayas’ regional center is situated in Cebu. /jpv
