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Governors agree to adopt past NIR nat’l agency assignments

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Negros Oriental Gov. Manuel Sagarbarria (right) at a meeting on the NIR last week.*Negros Oriental Facebook page photo

An agreement has been reached on the areas where national government offices will be assigned under a revived Negros Island Region (NIR), Negros Occidental Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Friday, September 22.

“We have agreed with (Negros Oriental) Gov. (Manuel) Sagarbarria to maintain the same offices that were already assigned in Negros Occidental and Oriental” under the previous NIR,” Lacson said.

The regional offices previously assigned to Negros Occidental were the National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Budget and Management, Commission on Audit, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Authority, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the National Telecommunications Commission.

The offices previously assigned to Negros Oriental were the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health, Department of Social Services and Development, POPCOM now called Commission on Population and Development, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Transportation and Communications, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education and Philippine Statistics Authority.

The previous NIR existed from May 29, 2015, to Aug. 9, 2017.

It was created through an executive order issued by then President Benigno Aquino III, which was rescinded by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The House of Representatives in March passed a bill seeking the NIR revival, composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, and Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has promised the passage of a counterpart measure in the Senate in December.

Zubiri is hoping that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will then sign the creation of the NIR into law.

The president had asked him to talk to the three governors – Lacson, Sagarbarria and Siquijor Gov. Jake Villa – last week to get a consensus on the NIR, Zubiri said.

All three governors are united in supporting the creation of the NIR, he said.

Negros Occidental is currently part of Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Negros Oriental and Siquijor are part of Region 7 (Central Visayas).*

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