No referendum is needed to create the proposed Negros Island Region as this will be an executive decision of President Benigno Aquino III.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas told officials of both Negros provinces in a meeting in Bacolod City last week that the President can do for Negros what previous presidents have done in carving regions out of Caraga and Calabarzon.
However, Roxas asked both provinces to come up with data to support the need for pulling Negros Oriental out of Region 7 and Negros Occidental out of Region 6 to form the Negros Island Region.
“Answer the ‘why,’” Roxas said, as he also asked for concrete examples on how a one-island region would benefit the two provinces.
Roxas, whose mother is from Bago City, was asked by Negros Occidental officials to help lobby for the creation of the one-island region.
The consultation at the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol last Tuesday was attended by 54 officials from Negros Oriental and 98 from Negros Occidental.
The contingent from Negros Oriental was led by Gov. Roel Degamo with Vice Governor Mark Macias and Congressmen Henry Pryde Teves, George Arnaiz and Manuel Iway. Also present in the meeting were Provincial Board Members, Municipal and City Mayors, and leaders of the business sector.
As one speaker after another extolled the virtues of a one-island region, Gov. Degamo threw caution by appealing against “railroading” the process. He insisted on speaking in the Cebuano dialect, adding that the language barrier between the Cebuanos and the Ilonggos is one thing that makes the people of Negros Oriental hesitant to embrace the one-island region concept.
Secretary Roxas, however, pointed out that there are many things that unite Negrenses compared to the things that disunite them.
Roxas assured the officials of both provinces that once all the data and justifications needed for the proposal are complete, he will submit these to President Benigno Aquino III, as he said “There’s no reason for it (one-island region) not to work.”
Degamo told the MetroPost that Negros Oriental will soon host a similar consultation in Dumaguete City with Secretary Roxas. He said the date will be announced after consultation with his Negros Occidental counterparts.
Degamo had earlier said he would create a task force that will gather data from the grassroots on the viability of a Negros Island region as requested by Roxas.
“I want to make sure that it will benefit the people of Negros Oriental, especially at the grassroots level,” he said.
