Six Negros Oriental and Siquijor residents filed a petition before the Supreme Court on Friday, August 30, to halt the implementation of Republic Act 12000 or the Negros Island Region Act, and to declare it unconstitutional.
The petition was filed versus the Republic of the Philippines through the Office of the Solicitor General by petitioners Fr. Hendrix C. Alar, Dr. Maria Lina R. Eparwa, Engr. Wilfredo L. Magallano and lawyers Marcelino C. Maxino, Jose Imaculado L. Palmitos, and Grace A. Sumalpong.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the NIR Act, which unifies the provinces of Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor into one administrative region, on June 13.
Negros Occidental previously belonged to Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental and Siquijor to Central Visayas (Region VII).
The bill seeking the creation of the NIR was authored by all of the representatives of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
The establishment of NIR regional offices in Negros Occidental and Oriental has started and the new region is expected to be fully operational by 2025.
The 65-page petition filed before the SC seeks the issuance of a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction on the implementation of the NIR and for it to be declared unconstitutional.
“Not only was the law passed in complete disregard of the Ordinance appended to the Constitution, but the matter was also never submitted to the people through a plebiscite as constitutionally required, neither was there any public consultation,” the petitioners said.
“The primacy of the fundamental law was flagrantly violated and the people were deprived of their fundamental rights to suffrage and information,” they said.
“Now the people of Negros Oriental and Siquijor are being legally compelled to accept a law that materially alters their way of life, unduly burdens their local government units, and forces them to be part of an aggrupation with people they have little historical or cultural affinity with,” the petitioners said.
While the NIR Act projects itself to be a law to unite the Negros provinces, it is actually a measure that will engender unnecessary chaos, they said.
They are “left with no other recourse but to seek urgent relief from the Honorable Court to halt the implementation of this unconstitutional act,” the petitioners added.
The creation of the NIR would place the petitioners and the people of Negros Oriental and Siquijor at a serious disadvantage, they said.
They said Negros Oriental and Siquijor will be disproportionately represented in the NIR Regional Development Council.
They also argued that the NIR must be declared unconstitutional because it runs contrary to the Ordinance appended to the 1987 Constitution.
The Ordinance appended to the Constitution apportions the seats of the House of Representative to the different legislative districts in provinces and cities. Thus, the provinces and cities were identified and grouped into regions, they said.
“Considering that Regions VI and VII have already been defined in the Ordinance, which, together with the Constitution, has been ratified by the people in a plebiscite, the creation of the NIR cannot simply be accomplished without significant difficulty. There is no NIR in the Ordinance appended to the Constitution,” they said.
“Removing Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor from their respective regions rearranges the regional organizational framework as set up in the Ordinance and approved by the people. Such modification of the Ordinance is a constitutional amendment that requires a plebiscite,” they added.*