President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered that Negros Island Region be dissolved, as he signed Executive Order 183. This order brings back Negros Occidental to the Western Visayas region (Region 6) and Negros Oriental to the Central Visayas region (Region 7).
According to the Philippine Star, the new EO effectively reverses an earlier order by former President Benigno Aquino III creating the Negros Island Region, which was issued on May 29, 2015.
Duterte Abolishes Negros Island Region Despite Calls For Retention
The EO has been ready for the chief executive’s signature since October last year. According to another Philippine Star report, the provincial government and other regional groups passed several resolutions seeking for the retention of the region. Congressmen from different parts of the region were also pushing for retention.
Since its creation in 2015, the two provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were taken out of their respective regions to form one island-region. New regional offices of government agencies were set up with its own set of personnel, either in Bacolod City or Dumaguete City.
The NIR was created to help “fast-track” the development of a unified Negros which made more sense to be part of one single region rather than separated in two regions.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had earlier opposed the retention of the region, saying that the government did not have the funds to use for the region. According to a PNA report, Diokno called the region “an expensive exercise” which the government could not afford.
Regional Offices To Be Reverted To Western Visayas And Central Visayas
According to the new order, these regional offices of the different line agencies need to be re-organized. The Department of the Interior and Local Government will oversee the reversion of the offices created for NIR. Personnel who have been assigned to NIR will now return to their posts in the provincial offices or will be reassigned to other offices.