DUMAGUETE CITY - If you are happy to be poor, then don’t support the creation of the Negros Island Region, support the status quo, Edward Du, president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Saturday.

Du said NOCCI, on the other hand, believes that Negros Oriental's chances of reducing poverty under a Negros Island Region are extremely high.

Du, who spoke at the Negros Island consultative forum held at the Negros Oriental Convention Center in Dumaguete City, said that, since Negros Oriental became a part of Region 7, its poverty incidence for the past 10-15 years has relatively remained unchanged.

In fact, based on the poverty statistics obtained from the National Statistical Coordination Board for the 10-year period, from 2003 to 2012, Negros Oriental was consistently the poorest province in Region 7 and consistently in the Top 20 poorest provinces in the Philippines, with poverty incidence ranging from 41 percent to 52 percent, he said.

According to the latest 2012 poverty statistics obtained from the website of the Philippine Statistics Authority and National Statistical Coordination Board, in the whole of the Visayas, only Negros Oriental and Samar belong to the Top 20 poorest provinces, he added.

He said what is now alarming to the business sector is the fact that, due to the continued inequitable allocation of scarce national government resources at the Regional Development Council-Region VII, poverty incidence for Negros Oriental has worsened from 2009 to 2012, compared to its immediate neighbors - Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Occidental, according to the NSCB.

NINTH POOREST PROVINCE

Based on the latest official poverty incidence data from the NSCB, Negros Oriental is now ranked the 9th poorest province in the country out of 81 provinces nationwide, with almost half of its households (45.3 percent) unable to meet their basic daily needs, or living below the poverty line, he said.

“This is very alarming. While all the other four neighboring provinces have been able to successfully reduce their poverty incidence these past 20 years by at least 2 to 9 notches, Negros Oriental's poverty incidence has worsened by 6 notches, from 15th poorest province in 2009 to 9th poorest in 2012,” he said.

Next year, the business community predicts a far worst scenario for Negros Oriental, with the full implementation of the ASEAN economic integration that is expected to severely hit marginal farmers in the sugar, coconut, aquaculture and livestock industries, as imported refined sugar, palm oil, coconut milk, marine and frozen meat/poultry products from Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, freely enter the Philippine market at almost zero tariff, he said.

Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, however, disputed the claims of poverty.

REGION VII’S LION’S SHARE

Clearly, without a doubt, the current status quo is not benefitting Negros Oriental and, given the historical track record of both Bohol and Cebu at the Regional Development Council, we in NOCCI believe that Bohol and Cebu will both continue to dominate and corner the lion's share of Region VII's big ticket infrastructure projects in the coming years as they have consistently done so in the past 20 years, he said.

In fact, the biggest irony and anomaly of it all is that, in the other regions of the Philippines, normally the poorest provinces are almost always given priority in infrastructure projects, but sadly in Region 7, the reverse is true, he said.

Although some of our local political leaders believe there can be no absolute guarantee that separating from Region 7 will automatically address Negros Oriental's poverty incidence, we in the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce also believe that there is also nothing to lose and everything to gain if Negros Oriental joins Negros Occidental under a One-Island, One-Region set-up, he said.

THREE-YEAR TRANSITION

Under NOCCI's proposal for a 3-year "experimental" or transition period, if after three years, the poverty incidence worsens under the Negros Island Region, we can always go back to our respective regions, he said.

Negros Occidental is currently part of Western Visayas, and Negros Oriental is part of Central Visayas. Both are separated from their regional offices by sea.

NOCCI is proposing for the immediate conversion of all existing provincial offices of all national government agencies into sub-regional offices to save on billions of pesos in the construction of 35 new regional office buildings, and hiring of 350 new regional government officials and staff, he said.

POSITION PAPER WITH PNOY

This means no regional offices will be created at the border of Negros Oriental and Occidental in Mabinay and Kabankalan, that will result in no additional cost for the creation of the island region, he said.

Du said the NOCCI position paper on the island region creation was unanimously approved by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Board of Directors in Manila Hotel last week, and submitted to President Benigno Aquino at the 40th Philippine Business Conference for immediate presidential action.

“We are hopeful that beginning January 2015, in time for the full implementation of the ASEAN economic integration, President PNoy will act on our position paper by immediately appointing all existing provincial directors of all national government agencies in both Dumaguete and Bacolod cities as concurrent regional directors and/or concurrent assistant regional directors, according to seniority status and pursuant to existing Civil Service Commission rules and regulations,” he said.

At the summit, Rep. Pryde Henry Teves (3rd District) also outlined the benefits Negros Oriental will gain through a Negros Island Region in terms of government allocation of resources.*CPG

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