BACOLOD CITY — A principal author of Republic Act 12000, or the law that created the Negros Island Region (NIR), is proposing a P1.2-billion budget for the newly created administrative region.
'Since it is now a law, Congress has no choice but to allocate funds for it,' said Sen. JV Ejercito, one of the authors of the NIR Act.
Ejercito said the budget will be used to spur and stimulate economic growth in the new region as well as to establish regional offices.
'It's the congressmen's job to include it in the House budget,' he said.
With the expected submission of proposed P6.352-trillion budget for 2025 by the Office of the President to Congress in the first week of August, Negros Occidental 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez is 'optimistic' on the inclusion of the NIR budget.
During the budget hearings, where all major government departments are expected to appear, Alvarez said she will question them about the budgets of their respective offices in NIR.
Alvarez said the lawmakers from NIR will also sit down and discuss the NIR budget when the technical working group (TWG) for the new region is convened.
Former Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri, also a principal author of the NIR Law, earlier expressed his intention to join the TWG meeting.
Aside from the NIR representatives, the other members of the TWG are the governors of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, and representatives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Budget and Management, and the National Economic Development Authority.
Alvarez said the TWG will discuss the new region's road map, the establishments of regional offices and the NIR budget, among other key issues.
'With NIR, it is about time for us to shine,' Alvarez said.
Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, who thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for signing the NIR bill into law, said he is looking forward to the TWG meeting, where the details for the NIR are to be discussed.
Zubiri earlier assured Negrenses that he will make sure that government agencies for NIR will get their respective budgets in the 2025 national budget.