By Teresa D. Ellera
BACOLOD CITY, March 15 (PNA) — The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has directed Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. to submit a position paper on the proposed Negros Island Region (NIR).
The additional requirement came after Marañon’s office submitted all the resolutions and documents to the DILG relative to one-island region proposal.
Marañon said he remains confident that the NIR would be realized before the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III ends next year.
The governor had earlier said that if the NIR is approved by President Aquino through an executive order, existing offices of national government agencies in both provinces will be utilized as regional offices.
The cost will be minimal as employees from both provinces will be tapped to ensure that the delivery of services on both sides of the island is unhampered, he added.
“The effect of the one-island region is tremendous. It will last a lifetime into the next generations of Negrenses,” the governor said.
Negros is the only island in the Philippines that belongs to two different regions. The Oriental belongs to Region 7 with its regional center in Cebu City, while Occidental is part of Region 6 with regional offices located in Iloilo City.
Marañon said that traveling to and from the regional centers to attend meetings and conferences entail a lot of cost for government employees and ordinary people.
People from Negros traveling to either Cebu or Iloilo also face the possibility of getting stranded during bad weather as ferry services are being cancelled.
“That’s only one of the disadvantages. There are more advantages than disadvantages under the one island region,” Marañon pointed out.
Differences in the language is not a problem at all as shown by studies because many Negrenses in the Occidental side can speak and understand Cebuano, and many Oriental residents also speak and understand Hiligaynon.(PNA)