Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, one of the main authors of the proposed Negros Island Region establishment, said that the NIR bill has been approved on second reading by the House of Representatives March 1.
“Let’s continue to support this bill and hope for its final approval,” Benitez, who authored the NIR bill along with other solons of the Negros Island, said in a post.
The proposal seeks the creation of a new region in the Visayas, composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
The bill was earlier endorsed to the House Committee on Rules and was part of the House business for March 1.
“If there is no objection, as all Negros Island solons and the Siquijor congressman coauthored the bill, it will be passed for third and final reading, before its transmittal to the Senate,” 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez, newly-elected chairperson of the House Committee on Local Government, where the proposal has been primarily referred, earlier said.
Alvarez had said that “local bills usually are not being opposed by fellow solons, as a sign of respect”.
The House Committee on Appropriations earlier approved the funding provisions for the NIR, with initial budget to be taken from the Department of the Interior and Local Government./NND News Team
