Bacolod City Mayor and Regional Development Council (RDC)-6 chairperson Alfredo Abelardo Benitez was upbeat after the Senate approved the third and final reading of the bill seeking to revive the creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) on March 12.
“It will be signed into law soon so let’s wait for the bicameral then, it will go to the Office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his signature,” he said Wednesday, March 13.
Benitez said they are set to hold an RDC meeting and he will ask all the department and regional heads if they are interested in putting up a satellite office in Bacolod City once the bill becomes law.
“In our last meeting, several regional heads also expressed their interest to put up a satellite office here in the city,” he said.
Once it becomes a law, he added that it will hasten and speed up the delivery of services of various departments in the region.
Benitez noted that the city can also provide a space for the departments that are interested in putting up a satellite office in Bacolod.
“We have our legislative building and an expansion of the Old City Hall so we can accommodate them as well as the two centers at the Ayala and SM malls,” Benitez said.
The NIR is to be composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor.
The NIR was created under an executive order issued by the late president Benigno Aquino III in 2015. It was abolished through an executive order issued by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2017.*