The Negros Occidental provincial government is prepared to provide a site for the Negros Island Region regional offices, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, March 18.
Lacson said the provincial government can allocate 5 hectares for the NIR offices from its 25-hectare property in Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay City.
The governor is hoping President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sign the NIR bill into law before his state of the nation address in July.
He said the NIR is “a good development definitely but we all know there is a lot of work to be done”.
Lacson said he expects a bicameral conference committee to allow some representatives to put in a provision to make the NIR law more flexible on where regional offices will be located.
The Lower House’s version did not dictate where the regional centers would be located but left it open to the transitional team to decide. However, the Senate decided to put the specific assignments of the regional offices in its version of the bill, Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said earlier.
Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria (Neg. Or, 2nd District), House Committee on Local Government chair, on Sunday also said there will no longer be any Bicameral Conference Committee meeting, the NIR bill will be transmitted to Malacaָñang already.*