A bill separating Negros Occidental and the highly urbanized Bacolod City from Western Western Visayas or Region VI has been signed into law by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.
Republic Act (RA) 12000, which also removes Negros Oriental, and Siquijor from Central Visayas or Region VII, mandates the creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR).
In his speech during a ceremony in the Malacañang on Thursday, June 13, Marcos said the union of two Negros provinces was “long overdue and makes very practical sense” since their residents belong to one island but “were governed under separate administrative regions.”
“For decades now, Negrenses have endured the rigors of sea travel, unnecessary expenses, bureaucratic red tape, [and] inefficiency that this arrangement has brought, especially when there is a need to urgently access government services from regional centers on other islands,” he said.
“Equally glaring is the uneven growth and disparity of funding between the two provinces, which share many of the same natural resources and industries, such as sugar, tourism, [and] renewable energy,” the president added.
Marcos is expecting NIR to become “one of the centers of development in the Visayas, further accelerating socioeconomic development for the millions of Negrenses and providing strategic convergence regarding resources, investments, and economic planning.”
“Indeed, in unity, there is always strength. And that is what we are building, and I trust that the people of the newly established Negros Island Region will work together to complement each other’s strengths to build a more united and flourishing Negrense community,” he said.
“This is something that the national government will have to play a very large part in and we pledge that assistance so that we can bring this new region up to speed as quickly as possible,” Marcos added.
The implementing rules and regulations of RA 12000 will be promulgated by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) within 60 days from the effectivity of the law.IMT
