President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order abolishing the union of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental as one Negros Island Region (NIR).
Executive Order No. 38 revokes Aquino administration’s EO no. 183 to revert the two Negros provinces to their original regions—Negros Occidental to Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Negros Oriental to Region 7 (Central Visayas).
The dissolution of NIR boils out from lack of funding due to other priorities of the administration.
“There is a need to ensure that priority government programs and projects are sufficiently funded,” the EO reads.
It added, “the establishment of regional offices of departments and agencies in the NIR requires substantial appropriation to be fully operational, thus competing with government priority programs and projects for funding.”
EO No. 38 abolishes NIR Regional Offices and Regional Councils, while personnel under the offices shall return to their previous units of deployment.
Former president Benigno Aquino III favored the creation of NIR to accelerate social and economic development as well as streamline the delivery of public services.
However, Department of Budget and Management said the establishment of NIR as a separate region requires huge funding.
“When we came in, I was confronted with a P19-billion request by various agencies for that new region. I said that is not affordable, we have other priorities,” Diokno previously told local reporters.
