Negros Oriental, like its twin province of Negros Occidental, just turned 130 years old.
Negros used to be one province during the Spanish times with its capital in Bacolod City. But the difficulty of traveling from Bacolod to Dumaguete to administer the eastern side of the island, plus the periodic raids of moro bandits made the administrators think of just dividing the island to make it easier.
There was also an issue of two languages in the island–the people on the west spoke Ilonggo, while the people on the east spoke Cebuano, and they didn’t necessarily understand each other.
It was funny because the people in the west still spoke in Ilonggo to the people from the east, assuming they were perfectly understood.
So it happened on Jan. 1, 1890. The Bacolod-based administrators made two provinces out of Negros island.
It was not a fair division because the island was divided along geographic lines – all the plains and flatlands went to Negros Occidental, while all the mountains (and two volcanoes) went to Negros Oriental.
There remained Cebuano-speaking people living in the northern part of the Island which was declared part of Negros Occidental.
The political division of the island also resulted in a social division. People on both sides had strong biases against the other, reinforced by stereotypes that were fueled by miscommunication.
The building of road networks connecting both Provinces started the process of connecting both local governments, not just physically but also socially and economically.
However, as both Provinces belonged to different regional political groupings, some plans were in disharmony, i.e., roads leading to the mountain boundary did not necessarily connect to a road on the other side.
Security also became a major concern, as policemen or soldiers could not run after criminal elements who cross the boundary, as they were already not just in another province but in another Region altogether.
The best thing that happened to Negros was when both provinces came up with the Negros Island Region. Both provinces were starting to plan and do things together.
We were looking forward to better times when the newly-formed region was dissolved in 2016 by the new President.
It’s been a good 130 years. But at times like this when we have words like synergy, cooperation, coordination and many more words to describe the benefits of working together, this should be the best time to bring back the One Island Region.
