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[av_heading heading=’MOURNING FOR NEGROS
NIR abolition galvanizes Negrenses ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY and TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – Negrenses took to social media their protest against the impending abolition of the Negros Island Region (NIR).
A black and white graphic is being circulated online. It urges Negrenses to “wear black” — a T-shirt, an armband, a ribbon, or a baller — from Oct. 15 to Nov. 5 “if you love NIR.”
The relevance of the time period, however, was not immediately clear. Only time will tell if this campaign will snowball.
On Facebook, several users shared a profile of Negros Island with the text, “Let’s hope the progress in Negros Island will stay and continue to flourish.”
A description accompanying the graphic stated, “The 20-year dream deserves reality! Negros Island Region deserves to stay!”
“Top reasons NIR makes sense: 1) Negros was the only island split between two separate regions (Western & Central Visayas); 2) Population: 4.4 million (roughly the same as W. Visayas, E. Visayas, N. Mindanao, and SOCCSKARGEN; bigger than Cagayan Valley, MIMAROPA, Zamboanga Peninsula, Caraga, ARMM, and CAR); and 3) Lack of infrastructure development primarily caused by focus on Panay and Cebu islands as regional centers,” read the description.
Bearing the hashtags #saveNIR, #LivetheNIRdream, #OneIslandOneRegion, and #tiNIR, another graphic indicated the description was written by Himamaylan City councilor Justin Silos Gatuslao, while the graphic itself was made by Mark Garcia.
CAN PRAYER STOP DUTERTE?
Negrenses called on President Rodrigo Duterte not to issue an executive order (EO) dissolving the NIR.
NIR advocates claim the abolition could impair the development initiatives the interim regional offices of national government agencies have started and make the delivery of basic services difficult.
Negros Occidental provincial government officials led by Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and a Roman Catholic church leader here resorted to prayers, while some Negrenses launched a social media campaign to oppose the plan.
Duterte was set to sign an EO abolishing the NIR, Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno said.
Keeping the NIR is “an expensive exercise” that would cost the government at least P19 billion, Diokno said.
San Sebastian Cathedral rector Father Felix Pasquin, Marañon and capitol department heads prayed at the Office of the Governor yesterday.
“Lord, this is the land of our birth, the land that we love. We are part of it and part of its rich heritage,” Pasquin said.
“Rule among our national leaders so that we may attain the dreams that we have for our island region,” he said. “Make us realize our faith in your Divine Providence. Make us hopeful that, like the Chosen People, we shall reach the Promised Land; that our dream, our island region, will be a reality.”
“In the march toward the portals of the Negros Island Region, Lord, we beg you: accompany us, make us strong in hope and make us resolute in the realization of our dream,” the church leader said.
‘LIFELONG DREAM’
Earlier Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino said the NIR may be dissolved due to “budget constraints.”
Both officials cited the NIR’s exclusion from the General Appropriations Act for 2016 and the proposed budget for 2017, and the administration’s plan to transition to a federal form of government as factors.
The NIR, which comprises the Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental provinces, is “home to at least 4.4 million Filipinos” who had a “lifelong dream to have a one-island region,” the Sangguniang Panlungsod here said.
In a resolution, the city council said the Negrenses were “grateful” the NIR was created. “Its realization is rewarding to us.”
The NIR was created through EO No. 183 signed by then President Benigno Aquino III on May 29, 2015.
Since the NIR was established, transactions like obtaining permits and licenses that used to be “very inconvenient, laborious and reliant on weather conditions” have become “easier and faster,” said Councilor Caesar Distrito, author of the resolution.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental used to be under Western Visayas and Central Visayas, with Iloilo and Cebu cities, respectively, as regional centers.
Returning the Negros provinces to their previous regions “will certainly be very difficult to the (NIR) regional offices already established, the local government units and to the millions of [Negrenses] who are praying the abolition will not prosper,” Distrito said./PN
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