LOCAL FORUM. Senator Imee Marcos holds a consultation meeting with various sectors in Bacolod City on Friday (Sept. 8, 2023). Among other topics, she said the Senate would look into the economic viability of creating the Negros Island Region as it would entail expenses. (PNA photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)
BACOLOD CITY – The creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) should be “economically viable” as the proposed legislation will soon be tackled in the Senate.
Senator Imee Marcos said it always ends up being an economic effort.
“If you’re going to set up a new area, it should be viable economically. Dapat sulit kasi maglalagay ka ng mga opisina. Mahal yan eh (It should be worth it because you will be setting up offices. That’s costly). It should be big enough,” she said in a media interview on Friday night.
Marcos said she does not have a position yet on the proposal and has not “heard very much about (the NIR bill) in the Senate.”
“There was the argument that it was not feasible economically. I don’t know what the revivalists have to say today. I think we have to visit it,” she said.
Marcos joined Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte in the National Teachers’ Month program at the Panaad Park and Stadium Friday afternoon. She then met with representatives of various sectors in a consultation at the L’Fisher Hotel.
House Bill 7355, creating the NIR, was passed by the House of Representatives in March.
The NIR shall be composed of the cities, municipalities, and barangays in Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and the island province of Siquijor.
The Senate Committee on Local Government has also approved Senate Bill 1236, authored by Senator JV Ejercito, seeking to create the NIR to boost the efficiency of the delivery of government services and provide convenience for the region’s residents in line with the administration’s goal of rightsizing.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, during his visit to Negros Occidental last month, pledged to see the passage of the NIR bill by December.
Zubiri said the bill would be tackled before the Senate goes on a break in October.
“We’re hoping to do the second reading before (the) end of September. At the very latest, it would be passed into law before Christmas. Our Christmas gift to the region, as long as it will not be vetoed,” he added. (PNA)
