• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (NOCCI) has asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to deny the request of the Diocese of Dumaguete to veto the Negros Island Region (NIR) bill for lack of merit.
The NIR is being proposed to include Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental and Siquijor.
In an open letter to the President, NOCCI president Edward Du disputed what he described as misleading, unfair, unfounded statements and insinuations issued by the Diocese of Dumaguete on the NIR creation.
“We are very excited and we really appreciate your support for the NIR bill,” he said.
Du reiterated the support of the Negros Oriental business community to the creation of another administrative region as he expressed his gratefulness to the President’s announcement that he will sign the NIR bill into law.
The Diocese of Dumaguete earlier wrote a letter to Marcos, informing him about their opposition to the creation of the NIR due to alleged lack of proper public consultation.
Bishop Julito Cortes said, “Regrettably, the passage of the bill has been marred by a lack of comprehensive information dissemination and meaningful consultation with the diverse sectors and stakeholders of Negros Oriental”.
Du said that there was a five-month province-wide public consultations on the “pros and cons” of the NIR twice in Dumaguete City as well as in Bayawan City, Mabinay town, and Guihulngan City.
“Because of the 2014 survey of Silliman University which indicated that a huge number of Negros Oriental residents were still undecided on NIR, this prompted the political leaders of the province to conduct a five-month public consultations,” he added.
On the alleged economic disadvantage, Du recalled that during the two-year successful implementation of the NIR before its abolition during the Duterte administration, the alleged injustices, inequalities, and economic disadvantages never happened.
Negros Occidental never exercised its dominance over Negros Oriental despite the disparity in size and population, he added.
On the allegation that NIR is politically-driven, Du said the movement for one-Negros Island is not only initiated by the political sector but also by the business and other sectors, including the academe.
On financial burden, he explained that during the two years of implementation of the NIR before, the region was able to accomplish its objectives and mandate without “spending billions of pesos.”
“Simply put, NIR can be implemented without huge budget,” he added.
On claims that the NIR is anti-poor, Du said the poverty rate in Negros Oriental dropped from 50 percent in 2014 to 32.7 percent in 2018 after two years of its implementation.
“What is the disadvantage of opening 16 regional offices in Dumaguete City under NIR, compared to zero regional office under Region 7?” he asked. | GB
