SENATE President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri backed proposals to bring together Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental into one region to be known as the Negros Island Region (NIR), projecting NIR residents would greatly benefit with government services closer to them.
At the Senate hearing of the Committee on Local Government Monday presided by Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, Zubiri conveyed he is confident the proposed NIR will be supported by local government units (LGUs) of the Negros island, noting that governors of Negros Occidental and Oriental are both pushing for it.
“I hope we can pass this [NIR Act] the soonest possible time on the committee level, so we can tackle this in plenary,” said Zubiri, one of the authors of the proposed measure.
He recalled that back in 2015, former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, through Executive Order (EO) 183 established the NIR, separating Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental from Western Visayas and Central Visayas, respectively. But former President Rodrigo Duterte abolished this in 2017.
In the same Senate committee hearing that Ejercito presided, the Committee on Local Government heard various local bills. These include the following: declaration of founding anniversaries; creation of several new barangays; declaration of local holidays; creation of Negros Island Region; and, the automatic income classification for LGUs.
Ejercito, author of Senate Bill (SB) 1530 (Automatic Income Classification Act for Local Government Units), said his bill aims to institutionalize automatic income reclassification every two years based on the updated table of income classifications to be released by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF).
“The Finance Secretary is granted clear mandate and authority to set income targets or the periodic automatic income reclassification,” Ejercito reminded in his proposed measure.
He assured that “this measure seeks to factually classify the financial capabilities of LGUs consistent with the prevailing economic conditions and ultimately address the limitations to the development of the local government units.”