Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate will push for the allocation of funds for the Negros Island Region during the deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri assured on Friday, August 2.
Senator Imee Marcos, during a visit to Bacolod on Thursday, said the budget proposal, called the National Expenditure Program, did not include funds for the NIR in 2025.
The proposed national budget will pass through the scrutiny of legislators in the House of Representatives and the Senate, who will ultimately approve it as the 2025 General Appropriations Act, Zubiri, who was one the principal authors of the NIR bill, said.
“By that time we would have made adjustments already with the House NIR contingent as well as with us in the Senate,” for the inclusion of the NIR budget, he told DIGICAST NEGROS.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said they already knew that the NIR budget was not included in the proposed 2025 national budget.
“Now that it is in Congress, maybe our legislators can include the NIR budget, especially our district representatives,” Lacson said.
“I hope they could successfully be able to convince the national government to include the NIR in its budget for 2025,” Lacson said.
Meanwhile, the Technical Working Group on the NIR will convene on August 9.
Lacson said he will asks about the NIR budget during the TWG meeting and perhaps the district representatives present can give an update.*