BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The reestablishment of the Negros Island Region (NIR) should come first before any talks on creating a third province in Negros Island, said Negros Occidental 5th District congressman Emilio “Dino” Yulo III.
“Pwede man na sya sa ulihi ma-harmonize, but let us first [concentrate] on the creation of the NIR,” Yulo said.
It was Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo who proposed the creation of a third province in Negros Island.
Yulo said the creation of a new province has to undergo a legislative process under the Local Government Code as well as comply with the mandatory requirements on land, income and population.
Earlier, 4th district congresswoman Juliet Marie Ferrer bucked Degamo’s counter-proposal, pointing out that the creation of a third province in Negros would require a long legislative process and eventually a costly plebiscite.
Ferrer’s statement also aligned with the comments made by Bacolod City’s Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez last week; the mayor said he would prefer to listen to Degamo’s fair representation rather than agree to his counter-proposal.
Degamo wanted the town of Vallehermoso in Negros Oriental, the cities of San Carlos, Escalante, and Sagay, and the towns of Calatrava and Toboso in Negros Occidental to form a new province.
These local government units are located in the extreme northern portion of the island.
He said his proposal is meant to address what he calls “unequal voting” within the Regional Development Council (RDC) meetings if the NIR were ever established.
“Ang iya gid ‘ya punto is equal footing, because the province of Negros Occidental is the dominant province, and since we are the bigger province, they [Negros Oriental] will always get outvoted,” Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson pointed out.
Lacson added that Degamo, however, did not outright reject reestablishing the NIR./PN
