BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Moves to reestablish the Negros Island Region (NIR) may have hit a major obstacle.
Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo said he has no problem with his province continuing to be part of the Central Visayas region.
He voiced this sentiment during the 4th Regional Development Council – Central Visayas (RDC-7) Full Council Meeting in Cebu City on Tuesday.
Degamo cited cultural differences between Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.
For one, he said, people of the Oriental side of Negros prefer sticking with the Cebuano-speaking people of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
“(Reviving NIR) should not be done hastily. There are a lot of issues. For example, the cultural differences between the Ilonggos and the Bisaya,” Degamo pointed out.
But he did not outright reject the idea of having a unified NIR. The pros and cons should be weighed, he stressed.
Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday morning his counterpart’s statement was “is not good news.”
He would reach out to Degamo and seek clarification.
In 2015 during the establishment of the NIR, Degamo was one of the leaders of the region’s Technical Working Group (TWG), along with then Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr.
All lawmakers in Negros Island and Siquijor are pushing for NIR’s reestablishment.
The Senate also approved five bills related to NIR, with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri authoring one of them.
The NIR was established in 2015 through an Executive Order issued by then President Benigno Aquino III.
However, it was dissolved two years later by then-President Rodrigo Duterte. He deemed the region too costly to maintain./PN
