Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo said yesterday that he is opposed to the eventual creation of the Negros Island regional center at the boundary of Kabankalan City and Mabinay town.

 

It will be more convenient for all if the status quo is adopted where half of the NIR regional offices remain in Bacolod City, and the other half in Dumaguete City, he said.

Under the NIR transition period the regional offices will temporarily be placed in Bacolod City and Dumaguete City until a regional center can be built at the boundary of Negros Occidental and Oriental in three to five years.

Degamo said the 16 regional offices for Dumaguete can be housed at provincial government offices in the meantime.

But there is a property within the Capitol area in Dumaguete City where he wants to build permanent offices for the regional offices assigned to his side of the island, Degamo said.

Degamo said he is not in favor of the regional center at the border of Mabinay and Kabankalan because it is a two-hour drive from Dumaguete. If the regional offices are in Dumaguete one can get to them in five minutes, he said.

The regional directors of the offices assigned in Bacolod City will visit Negros Oriental once a week anyway, he also said.

Degamo is also pushing for the construction of more roads that will shorten travel time between Negros Oriental and Occidental to bring the two provinces closer to each other.*CPG