President Benigno Aquino III said yesterday that he hopes to sign an executive order creating the Negros Island Region within weeks.

Aquino met with Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo at the inauguration of the Negros First CyberCentre in Bacolod City.

“They have assured me that all contentious issues have already been dealt with; there are no contentious issues remaining. I agreed with them that they will present a draft of the proposed IRR (implementing rules and regulations), which we will also incorporate into the executive order to make this a reality,” Aquino said.

The proposed Negros Island Region will be composed of Negros Occidental that is currently part of Western Visayas and Negros Oriental that is part of Central Visayas.

“As soon as I receive that, I'll sign the EO creating the one Negros region,” he said.

Aquino said when he will sign it will depend on how soon the Negros Island officials submit the draft.

“I was hoping we're talking within weeks, not months,” he said.

The president, in his speech at the inauguration of the NFCC, said he is supporting the proposed NIR because it will hasten progress, which was met with applause from the audience.

There is logic in creating an Island region where the resources will be divided only by two provinces, he said.

Negros Occidental is currently part of Western Visayas that has six provinces and Negros Oriental is part of Central Visayas that has four so the pie is divided more ways, he noted.

Meanwhile, Degamo yesterday clarified that while he did not give an outright yes to the proposed NIR during his meeting with Marañon Tuesday in Dumaguete City, he is open to the proposed NIR.

In fact, he was touched by the gesture of Marañon of going to Dumaguete to personally invite him to the NFCC inauguration and to meet with the president in Bacolod yesterday.

The one-island region talks should start with the two governors and nobody else, Degamo said.

“If one governor does not agree this will not push through,” he said.

Degamo said he is just being consistent -- he wants safety nets concretized so that his province will not be placed at a disadvantage when it becomes part of the NIR.

That is because Negros Oriental would always be outvoted in a NIR Regional Development Council with Negros Occidental having seven congressmen and 13 cities, while his province has three congressmen and six cities, Degamo said.

Although he and Marañon have agreed to a 60-40 sharing of resources poured into the island by the national government, this has to be institutionalized in a written agreement to ensure that future officials abide by that, Degamo added.

Degamo said he wants the safety nets concretized to protect the interests of his constituents, “because if this is not done my economy will be eaten up by Negros Occidental.”

He is agreeable to a 60-40 sharing of resources since Negros Occidental is larger with a 4 million population compared to Negros Oriental that has 1.4 million, Degamo said.

He said Negros Occidental and Oriental should have an equitable share of resources from the national government because economic progress depends on infrastructure such as roads and bridges, and social services.

When a concrete memorandum of agreement is reached, Degamo said he is ready to say yes to the NIR, he is not against it.

Rep. George Arnaiz (Neg. Or., 2 nd District), who is running for governor for Negros Oriental in 2016, said he has always been in favor of the creation of the NIR that will be to the advantage of Negros Oriental and Occidental.

“The NIR should not be an election issue, it should be beyond politics as it will benefit the people of the entire island,” Arnaiz said.*CPG

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