PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III will arrive in Negros Occidental Friday, for the inauguration of two mega projects of the province – the P63.4-million Negros First Rice Processing Center in Bago City and the P630-million Negros First Cyber Centre in Bacolod City.
Arriving with the President are Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Lilia de Lima.
From the Bacolod-Silay Airport, Aquino will proceed to Barangay Tabunan, Bago City at about 11 a.m. for the inauguration of the Negros First Rice Processing Center. He will be joined by Alcala, Bago Mayor Ramon Torres, Negros Occidental fourth district Representative Jeffrey Ferrer, and Rosemary Caunca, president of Federation of Irrigators’ Association Central Negros-Bago River Irrigation System.
The Chief Executive will lead the unveiling of the project marker of the modern rice processing center built through counterparting scheme between the Department of Agriculture and the Provincial Government.
The facility has a milling capacity of 10 tons per hour with series of re-circulating dyers coupled to a single biomass furnace.
President Aquino will also push the button of the bagging machine that will pour 50 kilos or one sack of grained rice and will tour and inspect the rice mill facility.
From Bago City, Aquino is expected to arrive at 11:45 a.m. at the Negros First Cyber Centre (NFCC) where he will deliver a message.
The NFCC has been accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority on September 16, 2011 and on June 11, 2014. The President issued Proclamation 802 declaring the building as an Information Technology Center Special Economic Zone.
Meeting
In Bacolod, the President will also have a personal meeting with 13-year-old Ma. Francesca Santiago, a Grade 8 student of the University of St. La Salle Integrated School.
The article "The Blame Game" written by Santiago in a national daily on August 21, 2014 earned the admiration of Aquino who described the student’s work as "truly remarkable” and that despite her young age, she “exhibits more discernment than some who are much older than her."
Security
Supt. Jerry Bartolome, officer-in-charge of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Noppo), said some 100 policemen from the Police Regional Office 6 were deployed to the areas to be visited by President Aquino.
The Bacolod police, Bartolome said, have also sent some policemen to secure the President’s visit. (With reports from Merlinda A. Pedrosa/Sunnex)