Marcos signs law creating new Negros Island Region

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday signed into law a measure that creates the new Negros Island Region.

Republic Act 12000 or the Negros Island Region (NIR) Act creates a separate region encompassing the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor into one region. This also includes Bacolod City. 

The law, which brings up the country's total number of regions to 18, is aimed at promoting administration decentralization and strengthening local autonomy, according to a press release by the Presidential Communications Office.

“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.

“So, for decades now, Negrenses have endured the rigors of sea travel, unnecessary expenses, bureaucratic red tape, [and] inefficiency that this arrangement has brought, especially when there is a need to urgently access government services from regional centers on other islands,” the president added.

The Senate approved on final reading the proposed NIR Act in March this year, while the House of Representatives passed their version of the bill in March 2023.

Former President Benigno Aquino III established the Negros Island Region, composed of Negros Occidental (Western Visayas) and Negros Oriental (Central Visayas), by executive order in 2015. 

In 2017, former President Rodrigo Duterte dissolved this executive order and said the establishment of the region would require substantial appropriations.