BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez said the counter-proposal of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo to create a third province in Negros before agreeing to the Negros Island Region (NIR) reestablishment was “unnecessary”.
According to Benitez, Regional Development Councils (RDCs) are represented by district representatives, and they all have equal voices in Congress.
The mayor also asked for Degamo’s purpose in creating another province.
He said he would prefer to listen to Degamo on fair representation rather than agree to his counter-proposal for a third province, adding that it would take longer.
Degamo’s counter-proposal also garnered the ire of San Carlos City mayor Renato Gustilo, nixing the idea of a third Negros province.
“Why not take half of Negros Oriental from Manjuyod to Vallehermoso in Negros Oriental and San Carlos City up to Escalante City in Negros Occidental?” Gustilo said.
Earlier, Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Degamo wants 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.
Degamo also reasoned that there is a “cultural barrier” – most of the people on the Occidental side of the island use the Hiligaynon language, while Cebuano or Bisaya is spoken on the Oriental side and in the extreme northern portion of the Occidental.
“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,” Lacson pointed out.
He said that Degamo, however, did not really outright reject reestablishing the NIR.
“We will help all provinces under the new region, so ang equal footing na lang ang i-address ta,” Lacson said.
A substitute bill seeking the reestablishment of the NIR includes the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor island province.
The substitute bill was jointly submitted by Negros Occidental 1st District’s Cong. Gerardo Valmayor Jr., 2nd District’s Cong. Alfredo “Thirdy” Marañon III, 3rd District’s Cong. Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, 4th District’s Cong. Juliet Ferrer, 5th District’s Cong. Emilio “Dino” Yulo, 6th District’s Cong. Mercedes “Cheding” Alvarez-Lansang, and Bacolod City Lone District’s Cong. Greg Gasataya.
The bill’s counterpart in the Senate, Senate Bill 1236, authored by Sen. JV Ejercito, has already hurdled the committee on local government in December of last year.
The NIR was first established through an executive order issued by then-President Benigno Aquino III in 2015. But it was dissolved by his successor, then-President Rodrigo Duterte, in 2017 due to the high cost of maintaining the region./PN
