BACOLOD City – The year 2024 marked milestones for this highly urbanized city and the province of Negros Occidental in various international initiatives and the dawn of a new administrative region.
Challenges posed by climate change and calamities also tested the resilient spirit of the Negrenses.
On June 13, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act 12000, or the Negros Island Region (NIR) Act, which created an administrative region comprising Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
The NIR Act separates Negros Occidental from Western Visayas (Region 6) and Negros Oriental and Siquijor from Central Visayas (Region 7).
The NIR Act brought together the two Negros provinces, this time with Siquijor, under one administrative region after the initial creation of the NIR in 2015 under an executive order issued by the late President Benigno Aquino III but abolished by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017 due to funding constraints.
Marcos said the NIR would be a “bulwark of greater growth” and a “conduit” for more effective and efficient delivery of essential services in the region.
In September, Bacolod was chosen to host the first Terra Madre Salone del Gusto Asia and the Pacific in November next year, positioning the city as a global hub for slow food.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez signed a memorandum of agreement with Slow Food International director general Paolo di Croce during the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy.
Terra Madre is considered “the largest event dedicated to food politics, sustainable agriculture and the environment.”
In early December, Negros Occidental was selected to host the 2027 Organic World Congress (OWC) during the end of this year’s edition at Nanhua University in Taiwan.
“Hosting the IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) Organic World Congress in Negros Occidental is not just an event for us. It is an opportunity to amplify the organic movement, inspire policy reforms, and empower farmers worldwide,” said
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.
Considered the newest tourism icon in Negros Occidental, the “Manok ni Cano Gwapo” was declared the “largest building in the shape of a chicken” by the Guinness World Records.
Located inside the Campuestohan Highland Resort in Barangay Cabatangan, Talisay City, the 115-foot hotel structure, which depicts a rooster, has 115 steps of stairs and 15 hotel rooms.
It was also a banner year for Negros Occidental, Sipalay City and Don Salvador Benedicto town, which bagged the grand winner awards in six categories of the 2024 Pearl Awards presented by the Department of Tourism and the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines in October.
In March, the Regional Peace and Order Council-Western Visayas (RPOC-6) approved the declaration of a state of stable internal peace and security (SIPS) in Negros Occidental.
The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division recommended the declaration of a state of SIPS in Negros Occidental after government troops dismantled all five guerrilla fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Negros Island.
In November, eight insurgents died while none among the soldiers was injured or killed during the gunbattle between remnants of the South West Front and troops of the 47th and 15th Infantry Battalions in Barangay Gatuslao, Candoni town.
In Bacolod, Mayor Benitez led the switch-on of the 400-kilowatt solar power system at the Bacolod City Government Center in a ceremony witnessed by Frederic Tesfay, who leads the Urban Act and Renewable Energy Projects in the Philippines for GIZ, the main German development agency, on Dec. 18.
The El Niño onslaught in early 2024, meanwhile, affected 25 of 31 local government units in Negros Occidental, which recorded damage to rice and corn crops amounting to more than P200 million, data from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist showed.
The cities of Kabankalan and San Carlos, as well as the municipality of San Enrique, declared a state of calamity due to El Niño.
Toward the end of the year, the second explosive eruption of Mt. Kanlaon affected 22,622 persons, composed of 7,313 families, from seven local government units in Negros Occidental, including the cities of Bago, La Carlota, San Carlos and the municipalities of La Castellana, Moises Padilla, Murcia and Pontevedra, data of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Western Visayas as of Dec. 28 showed.
On Dec. 13, the Provincial Board approved a resolution placing the entire province of Negros Occidental under a state of calamity due to the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon.
The latest eruption came six months after a similar eruption on June 3, which placed the active volcano on Alert 2 (increasing unrest). (PNA)
