The Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. in a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, April 18, expressed its full support for the Negros Island Region (NIR) following the opposition earlier aired by the Diocese of Dumaguete.
The letter signed by NOCCII president Edward C. Du called on Marcos to deny and ignore in toto the March 25 request of the Diocese of Dumaguete for him to veto the NIR bill.
Du said NOCCII was issuing the call with due respect to the anti-NIR stand of the Diocese of Dumaguete notwithstanding the doctrine of separation of Church and State.
He said the business community of Negros Oriental is very happy and grateful for the president’s statement that he will sign into law Senate Bill 2507 creating the NIR composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
“We are very excited and we really appreciate your support for the NIR Bill,” Du told the president.
Regrettably after the historic pronouncement of the president, the business community of Negros Oriental was shocked and dismayed by the Diocese of Dumaguete’s appeal for the president to veto Senate Bill 2507, Du said.
Du told the president NOCCI was writing to him to manifest “our full support to your pronouncement to sign into law SB 2507” and to respond and dispute misleading statements and unfair/unfounded insinuations by the Diocese of Dumaguete on the creation of the NIR.
The Diocese of Dumaguete’s allegations of absence or lack of comprehensive information dissemination and meaningful public consultations on the NIR is misleading, Du said.
He pointed out that several months before the late President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Order (EO) 183 on May 29, 2015, creating the short-lived NIR, a series of province-wide public consultations on the pros and cons of NIR was conducted by the political leaders of Negros Oriental in Bayawan City, Mabinay, Guihulngan City, and twice in Dumaguete City with former Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas.
In fact, because of the positive outcome of the 5-months province-wide public consultations on NIR, Aquino signed EO 183 creating the NIR for the first time. The NIR, however, was short-lived because when President Rodrigo Duterte was elected into office, EO 183 was revoked in August 2017 without the benefit of any public consultation, Du said.
Du pointed out that during the two-year successful implementation of the new region from May 2015 to August 2017, the Diocese of Dumaguete never complained about the major accomplishments and historic milestones of the NIR.
He asked why the Diocese of Dumaguete did not object to the implementation of NIR from 2015 to 2017 if it was anti-poor, unjust, oppressive, and disadvantageous to the people of Negros Oriental as it now claims.
Du also asked why the Diocese of Dumaguete was complaining only now after the president announced that he was supporting the NIR.
“Why ‘sabotage’ or stop the signing into law of a very good bill (SB 2507) after its unanimous approval by both the Senate and House of Representatives?” Du asked.
While the Diocese of Dumaguete insists that the absence of due process exacerbates the injustice surrounding the creation of NIR, Du said democracy, especially under a representative government like the Philippines is represented by duly-elected government officials.
In the case of Senate Bill 2507, all Negorenses were deemed to have been duly represented by their duly-elected representatives who co-authored the bill seeking the creation of the NIR in the Lower House, he said.
The Diocese of Dumaguete had all the chances to oppose the creation of NIR when Congress was crafting the bill but they kept quiet and did not lift a finger, Du pointed out.
The Diocese of Dumaguete cited a 2014 Survey conducted by Silliman University showing that 43.34 percent opposed NIR and only 25.83 percent supported NIR, while the rest were undecided, Du noted.
The 2014 Survey was done precisely to determine whether or not there was still a need to conduct province-wide all-out public consultations and to prepare the budgetary requirements for the 5-month long public consultations, Du said.
Accordingly, since the survey results showed a huge number (30.83 percent) were still undecided, the political leaders of Negros Oriental decided to conduct the 5-month long province-wide public consultations, he said.
The response of the majority to the consultations is that they supported the NIR so then President Aquino signed EO 183 on May 29, 2015 creating the new island region, Du said.
During the two-year successful implementation of NIR from 2015-2017, the alleged injustices, inequalities, and economic disadvantages to Negros Oriental as feared by the Diocese of Dumaguete never happened, Du also said.
“Accordingly, because Negros Occidental never exercised its dominance over Negros Oriental despite the disparity in size and population explains why the Diocese of Dumaguete never complained about NIR for two years from 2015 to 2017”, he pointed out.
“With due respect to the position of the Diocese of Dumaguete, the business community believes that cultural and linguistic differences cannot and will never be a hindrance to economic prosperity, peace and harmony of any region,” Du also said.
Du also said the claim of the Diocese of Dumaguete that the push for NIR appears to be driven more by the interests of powerful politicians than the genuine needs and demands of the people is not true.
On the Diocese of Dumaguete claims that the geographic realities of Negros Island pose challenges to transportation and connectivity under the NIR, Du pointed out that even without NIR, there are already regional offices based in Bacolod City like the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Sugar Regulatory Administration and Social Security System.
Du also belied the claim of the Diocese of Dumaguete that the creation of NIR entails significant financial costs, with estimates reaching billions of pesos.
He pointed out that during the two-year implementation of NIR in 2015-2017, it was able to accomplish its objectives and mandate without spending billions of pesos.
Simply put, NIR can be implemented without a huge budget, Du said.
On the Diocese of Dumaguete claims that the geographic realities of Negros Island pose challenges to transportation and connectivity under the NIR, Du pointed out that even without NIR, there are already regional offices based in Bacolod City like Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Sugar Regulatory Administration and Social Security System.
He also pointed out that under the NIR 16 new regional offices that will be opened in Dumaguete City so there will be no need for Negorenses to travel to Cebu. For the people of Siquijor, instead of traveling for 4-6 hours from Siquijor to Cebu City proper, the boat travel from Siquijor to Dumaguete City is only 1 to 2 hours, Du also said.
What is the disadvantage of opening 16 new regional offices in Dumaguete City under
NIR compared to zero regional office under Region 7? Du asked.
Du also said the fear of the Diocese of Dumaguete that NIR will negatively impact the poor people of Negros Oriental is unfounded and not supported by facts and figures.
On the contrary, prior to the creation of NIR in May 2015, the 2014 poverty rate of Negros Oriental was at 50 percent. After the 2-years’ successful implementation of NIR from 2015 to 2017, the poverty rate decreased to 32.7 percent in 2018, Du pointed out.*