NEGROS Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. sees a more progressive province in 2019 as he also urged everyone to pray for peace.
“Everyone must have a New a Year's resolution. We must return to prayers for peace. Each one of us should have peace because peace begins with you. It begins with our leaders. We should thank the Lord for the blessings. We have so many blessings and once again we are spared from the typhoon,” the governor said.
Marañon said there are already good signs that the province's economy will improve.
“Japan, for example, has opened its doors for our skilled workers like the caregivers. The province he said is now offering a scholarship for ‘study now, pay later’ for Maritime students,” he added.
The governor said that he sees job opportunities coming to the province in 2019 especially in the food industry.
Moreover, Marañon also lamented that the $300 million shipbuilding facility by Japanese firm Tsuneishi Heavy Industries in Hinobaan could already jumpstart its construction, however, there are legal procedures that should be finished first involving about 20 families occupying the area.
“We already have the writ of execution. There were more than a hundred residents who were already ejected from the area but we have a very slow legal procedure involving about 20 families,” he said.
He revealed that the province has already spent a lot on the relocation site for the affected families.
Marañon said he is hoping that the project could start next year.
Fifth District Board Member Alain Gatuslao said that the governor is the one who really made the effort to bring the Japanese investor in the province and that he has apprehensions that if the project cannot yet start, it may not push through once Marañon is no longer the governor.
The Provincial Board allocated P20 million for the relocation of town residents affected by the project. (TDE)