The signing of the Negros Island Region’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) will be held in Siquijor in two weeks, Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said on Friday, August 9.
The IRR signing sometime in the week of August 19 to 23 was announced during the first meeting of the NIR Technical Working Group at Camp Crame in Quezon City, with Local Government Undersecretary Marlo Iringan presiding.
The IRR is expected to be signed by the governors of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, and the DILG, Benitez said.
The IRR means national government agencies will have 60 to 90 days to submit their transition plans for the establishment of their regional officers in the NIR, he said.
They should be ready by November because the TWG has to submit the NIR roadmap to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by December or January, Benitez said.
The budgetary requirements for the NIR transition were also discussed at the meeting, he said.
The funds for the national government agencies’ regional offices in the NIR will have to come from the budgets of their respective departments, Benitez said.
Present at the TWG meeting were Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Siquijor Gov. Jake Villa, and representatives Benitez, Emilio Yulo III (Neg. Occ., 5th District), Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District), Greg Gasataya (Bacolod), Jocelyn Limkaichong (Neg. Or., 1st District) and Zaldy Villa (Siquijor)
A provision for the creation of sub-regional or satellite offices was included in the IRR on the recommendation of Alvarez, Benitez said.
Yulo said the national agencies will have the discretion to establish satellite offices in any of the three NIR provinces.
“We are done with the draft IRR…the meeting was fruitful,” Yulo said.
Although some agencies are already setting up their NIR offices, technically the transition operations of the new region will start by January and full operations by 2026, Benitez said.
The NIR Regional Development Council will also have to be established three months after the signing of the IRR, including the election of its chairman, he said
The Regional Peace and Order Council and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council will also have to be established, Benitez said.
“The TWG meeting was very productive, everybody was engaged and looking forward to the transition,” Benitez said.*