Central Visayas remains a trillionaire region despite losing Negros Oriental and Siquijor to the newly-created Negros Island Region (NIR).

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s signed Republic Act 12000, establishing the new region that left Cebu and Bohol comprising Central Visayas.

The Philippine Statistics Authority in Cebu (PSA-Central Visayas) confirmed that Central Visayas will retain its status.

Felixberto Sato Jr., PSA 7 supervising statistics specialist, Negros Oriental contributed 12.9 percent and Siquijor contributed 0.9 percent to Central Visayas’ economy in 2022, totaling P179 billion.

In the same period, Central Visayas contributed P1.38 trillion to the national GDP.

“Even after deducting this P179 billion, Central Visayas would still have P1.2 trillion. It remains a trillionaire region,” Sato said.

Cebu province led with 30.1 percent, followed by Cebu City (22.4 percent), Bohol province (13.3 percent), Lapu-Lapu City (11.8 percent), and Mandaue City (8.5 percent).

“We still maintain a strong manufacturing industry here in Cebu,” Sato added.

In Negros Oriental, the services industry dominated the economy with 71.3 percent, followed by Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (15 percent) and the Industrial sector (13.7 percent), amounting to P166.46 billion in 2022.

Meanwhile, Siquijor contributed P12.02 billion to Central Visayas’ economy in 2022, with the services sector as the largest contributor (72.2 percent), followed by the industrial sector (14.6 percent) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (13.1 percent).

The new NIR law establishes a region comprising Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and the province of Siquijor. This separates Negros Oriental and Siquijor from Central Visayas, and Negros Occidental with Bacolod City from Western Visayas.

Central Visayas will now encompass Cebu and Bohol Provinces, while Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo remain part of Western Visayas.

In May 2015, the NIR was established by Executive Order 183 under then-President Benigno Aquino III, initially comprising Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

However, President Rodrigo Duterte abolished it in 2017 through Executive Order 38.