• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The proposal to rename the Negros Island Region (NIR) to Negros Island Siquijor Administrative Region (NISAR) has drawn mixed reactions from some local government officials of the newly-created region.
“I don’t have any serious concern whatever the name. What is important is we have attained our goal,” Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo said.
Mayor Wilfredo Capundag Jr. of San Juan, Siquijor has pushed to rename the NIR to NISAR, stressing that the new region comprises more than just Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
Prior to its abolition in 2017 by then President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the NIR was also known as Region 18.
Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Remollo said that changing the new region’s name to NISAR “does not really matter”, pointing out that Siquijor has always been referred to as an “isla” by Negros Oriental.
Since the NIR already includes Siquijor, there is no need to appeal to change it to NISAR, Remollo said.
That is not a matter of serious concern, the mayor added.
Remollo said he suspects that the call was made to rationalize the need to set up regional offices in Siquijor, following the pull out of Government Service Insurance System and Department of Public Works and Highways satellite offices of Central Visayas from the island-province after the NIR Act was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Under the new region, satellite offices may also be activated in Siquijor, Remollo said.
Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, an early advocate of the NIR creation, welcomed Capundag’s proposal to rename the NIR to NISAR.
Coscolluela also suggested holding the first NIR Regional Development Council meeting in Siquijor to ensure that Siquijodnons would feel included in the new administrative region.
Yulo said that all the concerns will pass through the technical working group, which will formulate what needs to be done in transition into the NIR. | GB
