*CHERYL CRUZ
Vice President Leni Robredo said Nov. 5 that she will work for the revival of the Negros Island Region (NIR) if she wins in the May 2022 presidential elections.
“Definitely, we will not allow the continued dissolution of the NIR,” Robredo, who is presently in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to personally thank her supporters and meet with various groups, said in a radio interview.
“Nasasayangan ako. In fact, I consider 2016 until today a lost time for Negros,” Robredo said, adding that it could have been a period to strengthen the NIR operations, to make Negros Occidental and Oriental into one cohesive body that shares similar qualities and natural resources.
Then President Benigno Aquino III issued Executive Order 183 in 2015 that created the NIR. President Rodrigo Duterte abolished the NIR, through EO 38, in 2017.
“It was a lost opportunity for everyone,” Robredo stressed during a press conference this afternoon after her meeting with supporters and multi-sectoral groups at Acacia Hotel Bacolod. “Dapat sana naka take off na kayo as one region and one island.”
She said she expected that under the NIR, the trajectory of progress of Negros will further speed up.
Meanwhile, Robredo and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson signed a memorandum of agreement for a fund transfer of P500,000 to the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, for the medical assistance of eligible Negrenses.
The MOA signing was attended by Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, TLJPH chief, Dr. Mary Ann Maestral, and Hospital Operations Department chief, Dr. Girlie Pinongan, at the Capitol this morning.
Robredo said the Office of the Vice President has also assisted the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, especially in strengthening its anti-COVID response.
She said that if she becomes president, she will work to control and mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
There should be a massive vaccination program and mass testing, Robredo said, adding that lockdowns should be targeted and work opportunities ensured for the economy to recover from the COVID pandemic. | CGC
