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DBM tells Degamo: NIR on status quo basis

DUMAGUETE CITY, Dec. 20 (PNA) -- Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has confirmed receipt of a letter from Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno that the composition of the Negros Island Region (NIR) will be on a status quo basis.

As a result, their respective budgets will be from Region 7 for Negros Oriental and Region 6 for Negros Occidental, Degamo said Monday evening.

The letter, which Gov. Degamo said that he received last week, was in reference to the joint appeal for retention of NIR coming from the two governors, other officials, leaders of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and business groups, among others.

The joint appeal assured President Rodrigo Duterte that NIR will not incur additional costs to the national government and that regional officials will be able to effectively function within its budget.

It also said that NIR will level the playing field in developing the Visayas regions and accelerate its transformation as a showcase of socio-economic progress, thereby encouraging reverse migration and decongestion of Metro Manila.

Secretary Diokno stressed that while the national government has acknowledged such presentation, forming the NIR administrative region at this time may not be timely in the pursuit of the federal government being advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte even as such will require a huge budget for it to be fully operational.

Diokno, in his letter, said the matter on whether or not to retain the NIR still rests with the President. (PNA)

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