Tacloban City (CNN Philippines, June 11) – Visayan bishops on Sunday called for the creation of a new Samar Island Region separate from Eastern Visayas, composed of the provinces of Northern Samar, Western Samar, and Eastern Samar.
“We need to appeal to our president, honorable Bongbong Marcos, through our DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., and to our legislators, to make a law declaring one Island, one Region, and that island is no other than the Island of Samar,” Diocese of Borongan Bishop Crispin Varquez said Sunday.
“We are the third largest island in the country so we deserve the undying service from our national government,” he added. Luzon and Visayas rank first and second in size, respectively.
Samar has an area of 13,429 square kilometers and a population of 1,909,537, according to a 2020 census by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
He suggested that government agencies and regional offices should be clustered in each of the three provinces, and that interconnected road networks should be established to ease transportation and jumpstart development in the proposed region.
Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone, the province’s former lone district representative, backed the clergy’s call to create a Samar Island Region.
“That is a good initiative, if only to stress the need to prioritize Samar Island in terms of economic development,” he said.
“I welcome that proposal, and again I just want to reiterate our firm and unequitable support to all the initiatives of SIPPAD (Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development),” he added.
Varquez, Diocese of Calbayog Bishop Isabelo Abarquez, and Diocese of Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance called for the creation of a separate Samar Island Region in 2016, following the creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) in 2015.
The NIR was established on May 29, 2015 through Executive Order (EO) 183 signed by late President Benigno Aquino III.
It was abolished on Aug. 9, 2017, when former President Rodrigo Duterte revoked Aquino’s EO, citing the substantial funding needed to keep the region operational which competed with other government projects.
