Negros Oriental Governor Manuel Sagarbarria on Wednesday vowed to relentlessly pursue the Tamlang Valley development project even if it means having to personally present it to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. while securing funds elsewhere for its realization.

In a press conference, Sagarbarria expressed his disappointment over the removal of the Tamlang Valley-Sustainable Agriculture for Growth and Resiliency (TV-SAGR) project from the top three priority programs in Central Visayas to be presented to the President.

The governor recently received a letter from the National Economic Development Authority in Region 7 (NEDA 7) informing him that the Tamlang Valley project was dropped due to incomplete requirements such as a feasibility study and detailed engineering.

The letter came a few days before the three priority projects from Central Visayas were to be presented to the President, which the governor noted was unfair to the province as it was not given enough time to comply with what was lacking.

In his letter dated May 6, 2024, to Jennifer Bretaña, Regional Director of the National Economic and Development Authority and vice chair of the Regional Development Council in Region 7, Sagarbarria noted that dropping the TV-SAGR project “is tantamount to depriving the President of the opportunity to discover, learn, support, harness, and tap the resources of Tamlang Valley to put forward his national agenda”.

The Tamlang Valley project includes some 25,000 hectares of government land eyed to be developed into the food basket of Negros Oriental.

Tamlang Valley was touted as a “no man’s land” in the late 80s and early 90s at the height of the communist insurgency in the province.

Just recently, Negros Oriental was declared under a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security with all the communist guerilla fronts dismantled. (PNA)