• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Negros Island Region (NIR) is expected to be fully functional, with its own annual budget, by next year, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Friday, Jan.
“In 2026, we will see the full implementation of the NIR because they are now preparing its budget inclusion in the next year’s General Appropriations Act,” he added.
The creation of the NIR, which comprises the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in June last year.
Lacson said the NIR regional offices are already functioning, using the budget of Western Visayas (Region 6) and Central Visayas (Region 7).
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, the outgoing chairperson of the Regional Development Council-6, earlier said that the new administrative region will be officially operational after Feb. 18, following the publication of Republic Act 12000, establishing the NIR.
Benitez said a meeting has been scheduled for all regional directors and officials of national government agencies to discuss the assignment of personnel and the setting up of facilities.
With the signing of the law’s implementing rules and regulations, Benitez reiterated his stand that all national government agencies should have a presence in all the provinces of the region.
“Whether it’s satellite, virtual or any method that will allow transactions to take place in all the provinces within the NIR,” he said.
Some of the national government agencies that have already established offices in the NIR include the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Agrarian Reform, Commission on Elections, Office of Civil Defense, Philippine Statistics Authority and National Economic and Development Authority. | GPB with PNA report
