PNoy orders national agencies to help NIR transition

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — President Benigno Aquino III, through Memorandum Circular 81 signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. on August 6, had directed national agencies to “extend full assistance in the transition of the Negros Island Region.”

The agency heads are required to designate interim regional directors, not later than October 1 this year, and to complete transition measures by January 1, 2016 in time for the opening of the NIR.

They were also ordered to organize and establish regional offices, including attached agencies, in either Bacolod City or Dumaguete City, until such time their regional centers are developed and programmed the transfer of data and other assets of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental from Region 6 and Region 7, respectively, into the new region.

Executive Order 183, signed by Aquino on May 29, separated Negros Occidental from Western Visayas, or Region 6, and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas, or Region 7.

The NIR-Technical Working Group —consisting of the Office of the President, the Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic Development Authority, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and representatives of the two provinces — was tasked to put in place organizational development, staffing, and budgeting of regional line and regulatory agencies.  (FREEMAN)