Marcos signs law creating new Negros Island Region
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has signed into law the measure creating a new Negros Island Region (NIR).
The new law, Republic Act No. 12000, was made official on June 13. Under this, the NIR will be made up of Negros Occidental, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
Previously, Negros Occidental and Bacolod City were part of the Western Visayas (Region 6) while Negros Oriental and Siquijor were part of the Central Visayas (Region 7).
This also makes the total number of regions in the country 18.
"This union is long overdue and makes very practical sense, especially in the Negros Island, where people are located on one island but are governed under separate administrative regions," Marcos said.
With the measure, a new technical working group will be created to make institutional arrangements, organizational staffing, budgeting, and other development requirements.
In March, the Senate approved the bill with the House of Representatives adopting their version in the same month.
Former president Benigno Aquino III created the NIR by merging the two Negros provinces into one under Executive Order 183 in 2015. This was later dissolved by his successor Rodrigo Duterte as he said there was a need to sufficiently fund priority government programs and projects.