PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has appointed Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer as his personal adviser for Western Visayas effective Wednesday, August 3.
The vice governor was in Manila to attend a meeting with the President with the presence of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and some other congressmen and officials in the country.
Ferrer said that the president would have wanted him to be the presidential adviser but it will not be possible since he is an incumbent elected official in the province.
“I cannot just turn my back to the 800,000 plus Negrenses who voted for me in the May 2022 elections,” he said.
Being a personal adviser to the President, Ferrer has a direct access to Marcos for whatever concerns about Western Visayas including Negros Occidental.
“That's a concurrent obligation without a salary,” Ferrer explained as he thanked the president for his trust and confidence in him.
During his State of the Nation Address (Sona) recently, Marcos said that he wants to put up specialized hospitals like the Heart Center, Lung Center, and National Kidney and Transplant Institute in the provinces.
Ferrer said he told the president that the provincial government is willing to donate a lot for the establishment of Heart Center, Lung Center, and National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Negros Occidental.
But the president, he said, suggested that instead of constructing a new building, they should look for an existing one and improve it.
The money that will be saved for the construction of a new building will be utilized to purchase new equipment, the official added.
Meanwhile, Ferrer disclosed his plan of suggesting to the president to give former Murcia Mayor Esteban Coscolluela a post at the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Coscolluela served as provincial spokesperson of the campaign for Marcos and his runningmate, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, during the recent polls.*