Negros Occidental offers 2 properties for NIR offices
BACOLOD CITY—The Negros Occidental provincial government has offered two of its properties as sites for the regional offices of the newly created Negros Island Region (NIR).
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the province’s 25-hectare property in Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay City can be used as a site for the NIR regional offices.
“If they opt to use the Talisay property, the provincial government will develop the site for the regional offices through usufruct agreements,” he said.
Another site being offered is the P6-billion 28-storey structure to be built by the provincial government through a public private partnership, build-operate-transfer program at its 7,500-square meter property at Cottage Road in Bacolod City.
Diaz presented the idea during the first coordination meeting of the NIR regional directors convened by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) last March 5.
He said the establishment of regional offices on the provincial government property could take place after 2026.
“The governor (Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson) is offering these properties because if the regional offices are in one area it would be like a ‘one-stop-shop,’” Diaz said.
NEDA discussed the NIR establishment in phases from transition, partial establishment and full operation by January 2027 at the meeting.
The soon to be RDC member agencies were also urged to submit programs, activities and projects for NIR project prioritization.
Operation manuals
Neda said that the establishment of the NIR Regional Development Council would come after the May elections.
Lacson said the NIR is expected to be fully operational in 2027 when its regional offices will be 100-percent staffed with full operating budgets.
“In 2026, the regional offices are expected to be operating with 50 percent of their targeted staff,” he said.
Majority of NIR regional offices are now functional and sourcing their funds from Western and Central Visayas regions.
The NIR is composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental, which used to belong to Western Visayas; and Negros Oriental and Siquijor, which used to be part of Central Visayas.
The regional directors were directed to prepare their operational manuals which should be completed in the second quarter of this year.
“This is part of the preparations for the creation of the NIR Regional Development Council after the May elections,” the governor said.
Many of the regional offices have been created, but among those that have yet to appoint regional directors are the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police, Lacson said.
