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[av_heading heading=’NIR dissolution still looms – Dino ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – Negros Island Region (NIR) may still be dissolved, and the planned transition to a federal government may have something to do with it, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino said.
In a statement emailed to reporters yesterday by a Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) official, Dino said, “The fate of the Negros Island Region is being discussed at the national level.”
“In my conversation with (House) Speaker (Pantaleon) Alvarez, he said there is no budget for NIR in the 2017 GAA (General Appropriations Act) and even in the 2016 budget.
“Also, it looks like NIR will be superseded by federalism. The likelihood of it being abolished is there,” said Dino.
Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. has yet to hear from Malacañang regarding the region’s possible dissolution.
“I have yet to hear an official word from the national government regarding the matter,” Marañon said. “It’s not good to speculate at this time.”
“There is a very big chance it (NIR) will be abolished because of the budget constraints,” news website Rappler.com quoted Dino as telling reporters on Saturday.
According to the governor, what had been reported might just be an opinion of one official, and he respects it.
“For now, I cannot comment any further,” Marañon said.
In a “text conversation” with the press, sent alongside his statement, Dino was asked what will happen to NIR officers and officials if the region is abolished.
“They have to discuss and coordinate with their corresponding line agencies,” Dino said.
He was also asked how much budget is needed to maintain the NIR. “I think close to P20B (billion),” Dino said.
Earlier Rappler.com quoted him as saying a new region like the NIR would “cost the government around P19 billion.”
In another statement, PDP-Laban secretary-general for NIR Yves Akol, who sent Dino’s statement, said the Duterte administration advocates federalism “aside from the fight on drugs, crime and corruption.”
Akol pointed out that the island region was “created by Executive Order (EO) No. 183 and not [by] a congressional act.”
Citing a section of the EO, Akol said the creation of the NIR Technical Working Group (TWG) was “subject to availability of funds.”
“There was no budget that was passed for approval in Congress by then Budget secretary (Florencio) Abad,” he said.
Section 4 of EO No. 183 states: “The funding for NIR-TWG shall be sourced from the implementing agencies of the NIR-TWG and the provinces making up the NIR, subject to the availability of funds and upon compliance with all existing applicable laws and budgetary, accounting, and auditing rules and regulations.”
The TWG shall “formulate a road map to put in place the institutional arrangements for the NIR by 2015-2016; recommend to the OP the preferred Regional Center; arrange the requirements for organizational development, staffing and budgeting of regional line and regulatory agencies, as well as the imperatives for development planning and investment programming,” Section 2 of the EO stated.
“Secretary Dino is saying that due to these facts, it (NIR) might be superseded by federalism,” said Akol.
Federalism framers in the PDP-Laban plan to include Siquijor “in the creation of [a] federal region,” Akol said.
“It is safe to say that we are all for a federal form of government,” he said. “We humbly ask everybody to wait for the decision of Congress on the matter.”
Marañon had said President Rodrigo Duterte, Interior secretary Ismael Sueno and Alvarez agreed to formally establish the NIR as part of the administration’s campaign for the transition to a federal form of government.
Alvarez suggested that the NIR adopt the island provinces of Siquijor and Guimaras, said the governor.
Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson sought the passage of a law establishing the NIR, but Marañon believes an EO would be “sufficient.” While an EO may be abolished, a law may be repealed, too, said Marañon./PN
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