Vice guv opts to wait for NIR rebirth through law

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer said he would rather wait for the re-establishment of the Negros Island Region (NIR) through a law, not an Executive Order, as he expressed concern the latter may lead to its dissolution once more.

“Why not wait for the law instead, so that we can consolidate everything,” Ferrer told reporters.

Ferrer, the personal adviser of President Marcos Jr. in Western Visayas, hinted that the possibility that the issuance of an EO and putting up of sub-regional centers in Negros may further delay the passage of the NIR bill in Congress.

Earlier, business leaders in Negros Island asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to issue an executive order that creates NIR, ahead of its passage into law.

This is also being supported by Rep. Mercedes Alvarez-Lansang (6th district, Negros Occidental).

In 2017, then-President Rodrigo Duterte dissolved NIR, which was created through an executive order issued by his predecessor, the late President Benigno Aquino III.

But Lansang said the issuance of an EO creating NIR is the prerogative of the President.

“But that would be a big help to influence the passage of the law,” she said adding that it might also show that Marcos supports the NIR bill.

On Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo’s opposition to the proposed NIR bill citing cultural differences, among others, Lansang told reporters in a phone patch interview Tuesday that “as of this time, the House Local Government committee that approved the proposed NIR bill has not received any communication from Degamo formalizing his opposition to the bill.”

The proposed NIR bill is now up for deliberations by the House committee on Appropriations, she reiterated.

Ferrer also said that while he respects the decision of Gov. Degamo to oppose NIR creation, he pointed out that local politics may have influenced his stand.

The vice governor said that one of the co-authors of the NIR bill is Negros Oriental Rep. Arnie Teves, a political rival of Gov. Degamo in Negros Oriental.

The Commission on Elections annulled the proclamation of Henry Teves, brother of Rep. Teves, as governor of Negros Oriental and proclaimed Degamo the winner of the gubernatorial race.

Ferrer said that in the two-year existence of the NIR before it was dissolved by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2017, Degamo had been supportive of the defunct region.

“If you look at it, Degamo is a minority,” Ferrer added, stressing that all Negros Oriental solons and the majority of the mayors support the NIR.