BACOLOD City – The establishment of the regional offices for the Negros Island Region (NIR) is now 70 percent complete, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
DILG assistant regional director Teodora Sumagaysay said the NIR, composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, is currently operating under the budget coming from Regions 6 and 7.
With regards to the operation percentage of the NIR offices, Sumagaysay said it depends upon the national agencies like the DILG, adding that, ““We are now 80 percent operational”.
Earlier this month, NIR stakeholders were stepping up the transition efforts as the newly-formed administrative region following the publication of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on February 3.
To recall, former president Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order (EO) in 2017 that abolished the NIR that was created during the term of the late president Benigno Aquino III in 2015.
Duterte’s EO No. 38, repealed Aquino’s EO No. 183 citing that there is a need to ensure that priority government programs and projects are sufficiently funded.
On June 13, 2024, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act 12000 or the NIR Act, creating a new administrative region comprising the provinces of Negros Occidental, including the highly-urbanized Bacolod City, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
The NIR Act separates Negros Occidental and Bacolod City from Western Visayas (Region 6), and Negros Oriental and Siquijor from Central Visayas (Region 7)./PN
