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BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – Negros continues to fight for its status despite a “50-50” chance of surviving, according to national and local government officials pushing for the retention of the one-island region.
President Rodrigo Duterte has not yet signed the executive order (EO) dissolving Negros Island Region more than a month after government officials claimed in media interviews the region will be dissolved for lack of funds.
Pro-Negros Region advocates believe this buys them time to rally for support.
“There’s a 50-50 percent chance we will be retained,” Department of the Interior and Local Government undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. said. “The President has not signed any [EO] abolishing the [region].”
Then President Benigno Aquino III created the region in May 2015 via EO No. 183.
According to Hinlo, the Cabinet will discuss the issue in its next meeting in December.
With the help of Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, “we will give it (defending Negros Region) our best shot,” Hinlo said.
The Interior undersecretary also called on non-Negrenses to help lobby for the region’s retention “so we can spur economic development, create more jobs, promote tourism…”
Meanwhile Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the region is “still fighting, still lobbying for more supporters.”
“Ga-amat-amat damo ang gabulig sa aton (Support for us is snowballing),” said Marañon.
The governor has been urging Negrenses to pray that Duterte will be enlightened and not sign the abolition EO.
“We are urging Negrenses to pray so that the beloved president will be guided, and God will give him a clear view,” he said.
Hinlo, a Bacolod-based lawyer who was once a president for Negros Island Region of the ruling party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan, said Sueno is rallying support from other Cabinet secretaries.
It may be recalled that Secretary Benjamin Diokno of the Department of Budget and Management told Malacañang reporters in October that Duterte will “soon” dissolve Negros and keeping the region is “an expensive exercise.”
On Oct. 24 local officials and agency and business representatives drafted a manifesto appealing to Duterte not to dissolve the region.
“Kaming mga Negrosanon gahangyo sa imong malumo nga kasing-kasing, Mr. President, malu-oy ka sa amon,” part of the manifesto read.
Copies of the manifesto were furnished to Sueno, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Guiling Mamondiong, Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Department Education secretary Leonor Briones.
A campaign to sign the manifesto among Negrenses is ongoing.
Negros has its own “cultural identity, which I believe the president will respect,” said Hinlo.
“The President [himself] is very proud of being a Davaoeño,” he said. “We all have our roots. It’s something to be proud of. That’s what we need the President to consider.”/PN
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