
Rep. Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong (Neg. Or., 1st District)*
The immediate convening of the Regional Development Council of the Negros Island Region is being urged to speed up the new region’s operations.
“We are asking the NIR technical working group to give the convening of the RDC priority”, Rep. Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong (Neg. Or., 1st District) said on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Limkaichong said the NIR Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Regional Peace and Order Council should also be convened.
The implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 12000 establishing the NIR will be published on Monday, Feb. 3 and the NIR will be officially operational after Feb 18, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Tuesday.
The NIR is composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
The lead agencies composed of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Budget and Management will again convene after February 18 to call all national agencies with offices in the NIR to come up with their road maps, Limkaichong said.
The road maps are necessary to set their budgets for staffing and programs to be included in the 2026 national budget, she said.
An RDC is needed because the budgetary process has to go through it, she said.
The current budgets for the regional offices in the NIR come from funds allocated for national agencies in Western and Central Visayas.
Negros Occidental was previously part of Western Visayas, while Negros Oriental and Siquijor were part of Central Visayas.*