President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday issued Executive Order No. 38, which abolished the Negros Island Region crafted in the previous administration.
The new EO revokes Executive Order No. 183, issued by Duterte’s predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III ordering the separation of the two Negros provinces—Negros Oriental back to Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Negros Occidental back to Region 7 (Central Visayas).
Aquino’s EO issued in May 2015 created the NIR, supposedly the 18th and newest region in the country, which has a population of around 4.5 million, of their respective regions and puts them together as one island region.
With the NIR—designated Region 18—scrapped, all regional offices created for it are also abolished and all personnel “shall return to their previous units of deployment, or reassigned to other offices within their respective departments/agencies,” EO No. 38 read.
Duterte said that the establishment of regional offices of departments and agencies in the NIR would “require substantial appropriation to be fully operational, thus, competing with government priority programs and projects for funding.”
The new EO also ordered regional councils and offices to return to their previous units of deployment or to be reassigned to other offices.
In December last year, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno pointed out that no funds had been allocated for the NIR in the 2016 national budget, the last under Aquino, or in the 2017 budget.
Diokno also called the new region an “expensive exercise” that would cost the government at least P19 billion and explained that abolishing the NIR would not affect basic services in the two Negros provinces.
“The services will be provided by existing regions before the creation of NIR. We go back to the status quo,” he said.
But Senator Bam Aquino, a member of the minority in the Senate, expressed disappointment over the president’s order to abolish the NIR, saying this would weaken the economic development and hamper efforts to alleviate poverty in the region.
“We are disappointed with the decision to abolish the Negros Island Region amidst the Negrenses’ appeal for unification,” said Aquino.
He believes the issue on abolishing Negros Island warrants a public discussion.
“We hope the Senate can still hold a hearing on the resolutions we’ve filed last year,” added the senator, referring to Senate Resolution No. 212 which he filed last October 24, 2016,” he said.
“We must immediately find out whether there are negative long-term effects for a divided Negros Island Region,” he added.
Aquino also filed a resolution to look into this matter after the president decided to revoke EO 183 dated May 29, 2015, which mandated the creation of a unified NIR, bringing together Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and all the cities, municipalities and barangays comprising the two adjacent provinces.
In the resolution, Aquino underscored the need for the national government to consider and assess the broader potential and long term impact of having an administration center in the Negros Island.
“This will enable greater efficiency in the implementation of development projects, and better and faster delivery of government services to Negrenses,” he said.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri also filed a separate resolution urging to look into the NIR issue.
The NIR aims to further accelerating social and economic development of the cities and municipalities comprising the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental and improving delivery of public services in the two provinces.