• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Fifth District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo said Monday, Aug. 5, that the Negros Island Region (NIR) budget allocation for 2025 is expected to be discussed during the meeting of the technical working group (TWG) on Aug. 9.
The P6.3-trillion proposed national budget for 2025 has already been transmitted by Malacañang to Congress without the funding for the NIR next year.
As the budget deliberations are set to kick off at the House of Representatives, Yulo said: “We will look for ways to fund it. What is important, we hit the ground running for NIR”.
Next year’s proposed national budget as indicated in the National Expenditure Program was already completed before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act (RA) 12000, also known as the NIR Act, in June.
“That is why, we have to work on that,” Yulo said.
Under RA 12000, a total of P3.6 billion, spread out over three years, has been allocated to establish the regional offices for the NIR.
For now, the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor still have budgets from Regions 6 and 7 for the operationalization of various national government offices and agencies in their respective areas.
The TWG is composed of representatives from the Office of the President, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic Development Authority, the representatives of the Office of the Governor of the provinces of Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Siquijor, and all the elected district representatives of the said provinces, including the representative of Bacolod City.
With the presence of these agencies during the TWG meeting, “We will know how to go about the budget,” Yulo said. | GB
