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[av_heading heading=’Can ‘riches’ save Negros Region? ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – That Negros Island Region is one of the richest in the Philippines is good enough reason to keep it, the Negros Occidental governor said.
Negros ranks fifth among 18 regions with a net worth of P36.65 billion, the Commission on Audit (COA) said in a 2015 report.
“We shouldn’t be abolished because we are No. 5,” Alfredo Marañon Jr. said. “It means we can be on our own.”
Negros Island Region, or Region 18, was created only in May 2015.
It is facing abolition. President Rodrigo Duterte is set to sign an executive order dissolving it, Malacañang and Cabinet officials have said.
They claimed that maintaining the island region is “expensive” and keeping is not the administration’s priority.
Negros Island Region ranks behind National Capital Region (first) with P159.49 billion; Calabarzon (second), P92.86 billion; Central Visayas (third), P64.76 billion; and Central Luzon (fourth), P53.98 billion.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental are also among the top 10 richest provinces in the country, the COA said.
Occidental ranks third with a net worth of P5.6 billion, while Oriental is fifth with P4.6 billion. Cebu is the richest with P28.53 billion.
Rizal is second with P8.11 billion, while Laguna is fourth with P5 billion. Rounding out the top 10 are Pangasinan, P4.76 billion; Cavite, P4.59 billion; Batangas, P4.5 billion; Leyte, P4.45 billion; and Pampanga, P4.24 billion.
Marañon believes there could be more developments in Negros if its status as an island region is retained.
“Gaumpisa pa lang gani kita, amo na ni ang agi,” said the governor. “Ano pa gid ayhan kon magsige-sige kita?”
He added: “If you ask the regional directors (of national government agencies), sila mismo makahambal nga what they have achieved is beyond their comprehension, beyond their expectation.”
Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela believes the Negros’ financial standing could boost calls to retain the island region.
Specifically for Negros Occidental, “the size of the province, the revenue base, the economy, and its potentials are the primary reasons why [it] was among the richest in the country,” said the capitol consultant.
Its “power-generating capacity and human capital” also make Negros Occidental one of the Philippines’ “premier provinces,” he said.
“With infrastructure and other development projects on stream, the province can combine with Negros Oriental to make the NIR (Negros Island Region) viable and competitive,” said Coscolluela.
According to the COA report, Negros Occidental has P9.40 billion in assets and P3.80 billion in liabilities.
Negros Oriental, on the other hand, has P6.13 billion in assets and P1.18 billion in liabilities./PN
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