President Ferdinand " Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will appoint a chairman of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Negros Island Region (NIR) since the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) was already signed by various government agencies, congressmen and mayors of the region, Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, outgoing chairman of Regional Development Council (RDC)-Western Visayas, said on Tuesday, October 15.
" We're waiting for the appointment of the President to determine who will chair the NIR-RDC," he said.
He added that it was earlier announced that it would be an elective position, but now it will be appointed by the President with a recommendation from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), among others.
Marcos earlier signed Republic Act 12000 or the NIR Act, composed of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
Before the signing of the NIR Act, Negros Occidental was part of Region VI while Negros Oriental and Siquijor were under the governance of Region VII.
This administrative set-up has long been considered costly and inconvenient by residents of the three provinces, who have had to travel to Iloilo and Cebu to transact with their respective regional government offices.
Moreover, Benitez admitted that he did not sign the IRR of the NIR because of its failure to follow their agreement for the putting up of satellite offices of the government agencies in the three regions.
Benitez said that when he attended a hearing with the technical working group (TWG) discussing the IRR, it was very clear that the satellite offices of the government agencies should be in the three provinces.
" A satellite office doesn't have to be a building, doesn't have to be a complete office with personnel, it can be a desk," he said
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He added that when the IRR was released it was stated that the government agencies may put satellite offices in siquijor
The mayor noted that their agreement was not included in the IRR so he did not sign the agreement.
" We wanted NIR to be a model region where all departments and agencies would have the capability to do transactions wherever and whenever," Benitez said.
He said that their agreement was really to put satellite offices in the three provinces, with the concept and idea of embracing modern technology so that the constituents would not have to travel to the regional offices to do transactions.
" We are already in a modern society," he added. /MAP.