Marcos signs law creating Negros Island Region
Story by ANNA FELICIA BAJO
GMA Integrated News
13 June 2024
President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. signed the measure on Thursday seeking to create the Negros Island Region.
Under the new law, the Negros Island Region will be composed of Negros Occidental, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
The law's passage brings the total number of regions in the Philippines to 18.
The law aims to consolidate and coordinate efforts, services, and resources for purposes commonly beneficial to the Negrense constituents. Further, the peace initiatives on Negros Island would be easier to enforce under one command.
A technical working group will be constituted to formulate the plan or roadmap to put in place all institutional arrangements for the Negros Island Region and arrange for the organizational development requirements as well as other necessary concerns for development planning.
In March, the Senate approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to create the Negros Island Region. The counterpart bill in the House of Representatives was passed in March 2023.
Senator JV Ejercito, the sponsor of the measure, earlier said the aim is for the six clusters of regional offices to be divided between the two halves of the island to ensure the effective delivery of services.
Ejercito also said the measure would strengthen local autonomy and accelerate the economic, cultural, and social development of the region.
In 2015, then-President Benigno Aquino III created the Negros Island Region, composed of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, through an executive order.
Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, dissolved the administrative division in 2017, arguing that it ''requires substantial appropriation to be fully operational, thus competing with government priority programs and projects for funding.'' —VBL, GMA Integrated News
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