Bishops lead move for Samar Island Region

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — Three bishops have pushed for the creation of the Samar Island Region—consisting of Western Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar—separate from Eastern Visayas (Region 8), with the hope that President Rodrigo Duterte will back this proposal.

The three, Bishop Isabelo Abarquez of Calbayog Diocese (Western Samar), Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan Diocese (Eastern Samar) and Bishop Emmanuel Trance of Catarman Diocese (Northern Samar)—all convenors of the Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development (SIPPAD).

Bishop Varquez said this matter was proposed last year and eventually approved, during the SIPPAD assembly, by all bishops and political leaders of the three provinces.

“I believe that all the people of Samar Island also support this proposal to make the island of Samar as one region,” he said, with high hopes that Duterte will support SIPPAD’s advocacy.

The creation of a separate administrative region for Samar Island was strongly backed by the governors of three provinces in the island during the past administration.

Resolutions of support for the creation of the Samar Island Region, were passed last year by the Philippine Councilors League of Samar, League of Mayors in Eastern Samar, Federation of Association of Barangay Captains, and the Provincial Peace and Order Councils.

Varquez, a member of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said creating a separate administrative region for Samar Island “is good for its progress because all the projects and programs from the national will go directly to the island.”

Based on the 2015 first quarter report by the Philippine Statistical Authority, the three provinces of Samar Island remained at the top 20 poorest provinces in the country

Northern Samar was 4th in the list with a poverty incidence of 61.6 percent, Eastern Samar at 11th with 50 percent of its population classified as poor, while Western Samar ranked 14th with poverty incidence of 49.5 percent.

Varquez said this situation may be due to the island’s distance from Region 8’s economic hub, which is Leyte, thus the provinces in Samar scarcely received attention for their respective developmental pursuits.

The PSA report however ranked Leyte at 17th in the list of poorest provinces in the country, with 46.7 percent of its population considered poor.

Trance, in an earlier interview with GMA News, said: “The current region (E. Visayas) is too big for Leyte and Samar. Dividing the region will do a lot of help like what happened in Mindanao with the creation of Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and that of Negros Island as separate region.”

The initiative spurred by SIPPAD is congruent to Duterte’s call for federalism in the country, except that in the case of Samar Island it is spearheaded by members of the CBCP, an ardent critic of some pronouncements of Duterte.

Varquez, however, did not see this as an impediment, as he was optimistic Duterte will see the benefits of having a new region for Samar Island.

“We have to propose first as one region and, if in case later on the Philippines adopts federalism, we can also propose that the island of Samar will become a federal state,” Varquez said.

Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Florencio, a Leyteño who formerly belonged to the Archdiocese of Palo, commented on Duterte’s plan towards federalism.

“We have to search for what is the good of everyone not only for vested interest of some few but if it is really for the good then why not considering the many factors that have to be looked into,” he said. (FREEMAN)