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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, January 4, 2017
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BACOLOD City – It’s a new year, but his faith in Negros Island Region has never wavered.
Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. still believes President Rodrigo Duterte will not dissolve the island region.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. We are getting more support from the public,” the governor told a news conference at the capitol yesterday.
Last year Malacañang and Cabinet officials claimed the President will dissolve the island region due to “financial constraints.”
Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno had said Negros Island Region would cost the national government P19 billion.
Malacañang had also said the President was set to sign an executive order (EO) on the abolition, but no such EO had been signed as of this writing.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were part of Western Visayas and Central Visayas, respectively, until EO No. 183, issued in 2015 by then President Benigno Aquino III, merged them into an island region.
Aside from “most” of Duterte’s Cabinet members, many Negrenses outside of the island region also support the latter’s retention, Marañon told the press yesterday.
Several tarpaulins campaigning against the abolition were installed in Metro Manila, the governor claimed.
The Cabinet is deliberating on what to do with Negros Region this month, said Marañon.
Meanwhile Marañon does not believe the rumors that Interior secretary Ismael Sueno will be replaced.
Sueno has a lot of work to do, especially with Negros Island’s retention and the push for federal government, he said.
The Ilonggo official is also “experienced” in dealing with internal problems at the Interior department, said Marañon./PN
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