Bacolod City – As the House Committee on Appropriations started budget deliberations of the different departments, its vice-chairperson, Negros Occidental 6th district Representative Mercedes Alvarez, recently said that Negros Island Region solons will fight for the 2026 NIR budget.
The NIR has a proposed budget of P105.358 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year 2026, out of the P6.793 trillion proposed budget for next year.
Alvarez said the proposed budget for NIR will focus on establishing regional offices and funding personnel for each agency.
At least 11 national government agencies already have regional offices in the NIR.
In the absence of physical offices, Alvarez said the national government will continue to roll out projects and programs for the NIR to serve its people.
The solon said she has yet to secure a detailed breakdown of the budget for each of the NIR regional offices, as deliberations are still ongoing for each department.
Following the creation of the NIR, the separation of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor from Region 6 (Western Visayas) and Region 7 (Central Visayas) will most likely contribute to the reduction in the budget allocations of the two regions, NEP data showed.
The proposed budget of Region 6 is set at P198.746 billion while P234.943 billion is for Region 7.
As Negros Occidental now belongs to NIR, the Region 6 budget was lowered by 16 percent compared to its 2025 budget, which is equivalent to P37.852 billion.
The budget for Region 7 decreased by 8.41 percent or P21.582 billion.
As to the budget of the three NIR provinces, Alvarez said it will depend on the land area, population, and its needs, among others. (Gilbert Bayoran via tvds)