By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — The One-Island Negros Region Summit will be held this Friday at the Zaycoland Resort in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said.
He said about 200 officials from Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental provinces led by him and Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo will be present.
The outcome of the summit and the resolutions of support from various sectors in the two provinces will later be presented to President Benigno Aquino III, he said.
Negros Island officials intend to convince the President to issue an executive order creating Negros Region.
“We will show him (Aquino) that this is the will of the [officials] and the people of the two provinces,” Marañon said.
He said various concerns, including the languages in the two provinces and the creation of regional offices, will be discussed during the summit.
Marañon believes language difference is “not a barrier” in the fusion of the two provinces into one region.
Some 40 percent of Occidental residents speak Bisaya, the main language in Oriental, and about the same percentage of Oriental residents speak Hiligaynon, he pointed out.
Aquino, in a visit to Occidental last month, said he delegated the matter to Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas.
Roxas, who was invited to the summit, could not attend, Marañon said without stating the reason./PN
