The budget for the Negros Island Region (NIR) did not make it to the proposed 2025 national budget, Senator Imee Marcos said on Thursday, August 1.
Marcos, who was in Bacolod for a Provincial Councilors League Negros Oriental Federation assembly, said at a press conference that “it is a matter of grave concern because our people are really expecting so much from the big change of the NIR.”
Her brother President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the law creating the NIR composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor on June 13.
The law was signed in June and as a result there were no Implementing Rules and Regulations and the proposed 2025 National Expenditure Program was already planned and printed, the senator said.
Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito told DIGICAST NEGROS on Thursday that if it is not in the proposed budget “then it is the job of the legislature to allocate the funds for the NIR”.
Ejercito, principal author of the NIR in the Senate, earlier said that a P1.2 billion annual budget over the next three years has been recommended for the NIR.
Senator Marcos, who was joined by Negros Oriental Gov. Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria and Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer at the press conference, said she discussed the budget situation with both officials.
“We need to stake a game plan so we can include it, even if only for skeletal offices,” she said.
“The original timeline was for the NIR to operate after the elections and for full operations in two years, that’s the real practical timeline but given the enthusiasm and the expectations of our people let’s try to hasten it,” she said.
She said the matter will have to be discussed with the Department of Budget and Management, we will have to ask the country’s financial managers what is the best way even just for skeletal regional offices.
Sagarbarria said he is thankful to the president for signing the NIR law and assured that the Negros Oriental provincial government is helping provide space for the regional offices on his side of the island.
Ferrer said the NIR is a dream come true and there will be ways to insert funds for it during the budget deliberations.
Marcos said they will look for resources for the NIR, including from the discretionary funds of the various departments.
She said senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Ejercito , who have roots in Negros, have also already started looking for funds for the NIR.*