SOMETHING is brewing in the recently-signed law creating the Negros Island Region (NIR).
You see, under the new NIR law, 3 provinces are merged under the new region – Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental and Siquijor. This is unlike the “old” NIR which was created by a mere executive order and composed only of the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental. Under that “old” NIR, the province of Siquijor remained under region 7 or Central Visayas region.
President Noynoy signed the EO for NIR, without providing for budgetary allocation even when he filled up some positions for regional offices.
Anyway, we will go to that later but for the meantime, let us tackle the “brewing” thing of the new NIR law.
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A source told me that 4 Mayors of Siquijor are against the inclusion of the province under the NIR region because accordingly, there was no public consultation conducted prior to the passage of the law.
“We deserve to know because we are the ones directly affected by this new law,” the Mayors reportedly echoed.
How come this law was passed without informing or consulting us, the mayors are asking.
Not only that, the Mayors are also opposed to the rationale for merging the 3 provinces under the new region.
“We do not share a commonality of customs and traditions with the people from Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental maybe but not the occidental part,“ they added.
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The opposition is focused on Siquijor’s inclusion in the new NIR because they prefer to be under region 7.
But just to be on the safer side, they are proposing for the conduct of public consultation in order to ascertain the pulse or sentiment of the people of Siquijor.
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Apart from the issue of no public consultation, the mayors also raised the issue of discomfort due to distance following reports that some regional offices will be in Dumaguete while others will be in Bacolod.
Layo na kaayo para namo nga adto pa mi mo-transact sa Bacolod, unlike now that Cebu is just a few hours away from the island, they also noted.
Naanad na mi nga adto mo-transact sa mga opisina sa Cebu, layo na kaayo para namo ang Bacolod, they said.
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Well, if this information is truthful, then for sure this will end up in the courts for appropriate resolution, with probably an application for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).
When a TRO is issued, the SolGen as the government’s lawyer will have to prove that there was public consultation and there was overwhelming consensus to include Siquijor in the new NIR.
In the meantime, all preparations for the new region will have to wait for some time until the courts have resolved the issues raised.
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Let us go back to the “old” NIR which was created by a mere EO.
As stated earlier, there was no budget allotted for NIR so what did the regional officials do?
I was still the regional executive director (RED) of Central Visayas region so this is first-hand info.
Because of the lack of budget for their basic operations, the RED of NIR proposed that a tripartite agreement will be signed between the REDs of region 6, region 7 and the then NIR where regions 6 and 7 will share their budget with NIR.
When I arrived in Bacolod, the agreement was already signed by the REDs of region 6 and NIR, and they were eagerly awaiting for my signature.
Instead of signing, I asked for a microphone and explained my reason for not signing. I raised the issue of technical malversation because the budget for region 7 is for that region only, and it would be illegal for region 7 to transfer the budget or part of the budget to another region. I also raised the issue of legality of the creation of NIR by mere executive order.
But just to be sure, I proposed that we seek the legal opinion of the DOJ first before proceeding with the tripartite agreement.
Well, they did not wait for that proposal anymore because probably, they also believed on the wisdom of my objection and opted to just wait for further developments.
Because there was no budget, either from region 7 or region 6, the RED of NIR was forced to suspend all transactions.
How about the new NIR, does it have the required budget?
None at present because they still have to make a proposed budget. Absent the necessary officials duly appointed by the President, there is no chance that they could still catch up the budget deliberation for fiscal year 2025-2026.
