A quarter of the total strength of the Police Regional Office Western Visayas (PRO6) will now serve under the newly created Negros Island Region (NIR).
PRO6 Regional Director Brig. Gen. Jack Wanky said on Wednesday, June 26, that these PRO6 personnel include those currently serving at the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office and the Bacolod City Police Office.
“Probably its (service transfer’s) impact is on the management. We will be unburdened as far as our administration of PNP personnel is concerned because there will be another regional office in NIR,” he said in an interview, without disclosing how many police officers will be covered by the transfer.
The police official said those covered by the transfer of service are around 3,250 or 25 percent of PRO6’s around 13,000 police officers.
The NIR was originally created through Executive Order 183, signed by then President Benigno Aquino III in 2015, but repealed by his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, through EO 38 in 2017.
On June 13, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act 12000, or the Negros Island Region Act.
PRO6 spokesperson Lt. Col. Arnel Solis said they have no idea yet what would happen to personnel assigned in Iloilo and to the training center, which is based in Negros Occidental.*PNA