Church leaders in Samar Island have revived the proposal to create a Samar Island Region, separating the three provinces from Leyte Island. Roman Catholic Diocese of Borongan Bishop Crispin Vasquez said during the 47th Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development (SIPPAD) meeting in Borongan City on Tuesday that the creation of a new region will further develop the provinces of Samar, Northern and Eastern Samar. Vasquez along with Diocese of Calbayog Bishop Isabelo Abarquez and Diocese of Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance suggested the creation of Samar Island Region in 2016 after the creation of Negros Island Region through Executive Order No. 183 signed by then President Benigno Aquino III. This call was supported by then Eastern Samar lone district representative and now Governor Ben Evardone who promised in 2016 to convene all legislators in Samar Island to discuss the proposal. Two presidential aspirants in the 2016 elections also expressed their support for the creation of the new region. ‘We appeal to President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. through our Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary and to our legislators to make a law declaring One Island, One Region. That Island is no other than the Island of Samar,’ Abarquez said. Samar Island is the third largest island in the country with a land area of 333,300 hectares. The island has a vast undisturbed forest and is home to many wild plants and animals, blessed with natural attractions, and is also considered the largest continuous-growth forest in the whole Philippines. Despite these characteristics, the three provinces on the island remain to be among the poorest provinces in the country, caused by decades-old insurgency problems, poor access, and vulnerability to natural calamities such as typhoons. ‘We are the third largest island in the country and we deserve the undying service from our national government. To ensure that the three provinces will achieve progress, government agencies and regional offices should be clustered in each province and road network should be interconnected to ease transportation and jumpstart progress and development in the island,’ Abarquez added. Currently, all regional offices of the national government have their offices in Tacloban City or nearby Palo town in Leyte. These agencies have provincial offices located in the capital towns or cities. Responding to this call from the clergy, Evardone said he is happy that the bishops have revived the proposal for the creation of the Samar Island Region. ‘That is a good initiative, if only the need to stress to prioritize Samar Island in terms of economic development. I welcome that proposal, and again I just want to reiterate our firm and inequitable support to all the initiative of SIPPAD,’ he added. SIPPAD – a convergence of the three Samar Island Bishops headed by Abarquez, Vasquez, and Trance also includes officials from the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, local government units, people’s organizations, and non-government organizations. Officials formed the convergence to address poverty by linking concerned agencies to provide solutions to problems in the three provinces of Samar.
Source: Philippines News Agency
