CEBU, Philippines - Permanent regional centers of the Negros Island Region should not be located at the Kabankalan-Mabinay border, according to Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, saying he would rather have these put up in the Bacolod City and Dumaguete City, capital cities of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, respectively.
At least 16 regional offices will hold their interim offices in Dumaguete City and 14 others in Bacolod City. All these are expected to partially operate in October this year and to be fully operational in January next year.
Provincial offices of the national agencies in the two provinces will serve as interim regional offices during the three-year transition period. There was no interim office set up yet in his province but “the provincial offices are already ready,” said Degamo.
The Oriental governor however said he had found a property, near to the Capitol area in Dumaguete, which can be utilized as permanent sites of the regional offices under the NIR.
Degamo said: “I’m not amenable to the Mabinay site. It’s two hours away from Dumaguete. What happens next if we finish our transactions there? What will we do there?” He said that putting up the permanent regional centers there is too far-fetched, “I’m happy with the current setup because it will continue to transact business.”
He said constituents, after transacting with the regional offices, can go on sight-seeing in Bacolod or in Dumaguete. “Bacolod is nice and the people here are good.”
Degamo had talked about this matter with Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., who in turn was agreeable to the Oriental proposal.
In a related development, Degamo said he and Marañon have plans to construct new roads to connect the two provinces. “From Bayawan City to Kabankalan City, we can build a new road there. It will be one hour and 30 minutes travel to Bacolod. Hopefully, it can be included in the roadmap so we can be closer.” (FREEMAN)