BACOLOD CITY, Aug.11 -- The top official of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the former Negros Island Region (NIR) has proposed to convert the agency’s regional headquarters here as a satellite office after its dissolution.
Regional Director Stephen Leonidas said that having a regional office in Bacolod would make the agency more accessible to Negrense farmers and landowners.
Once the two provinces will be reverted to their previous regions, those from Negros Occidental will be under the DAR Region 6 (Western Visayas) with a regional office in Iloilo City while those from Negros Oriental will be covered by DAR Region 7 (Central Visayas) whose regional office is in Cebu City.
Leonidas said Negros Island has the biggest balance of undistributed landholdings nationwide with a total of 89,794 hectares, and the target is to distribute 12,392 hectares this year.
He added that DAR-NIR has 23 permanent employees, who will be sent back to their previous units.
More than 30 job order workers maybe displaced if they will not be absorbed by the two provincial offices, he said.
Leonidas said they are still waiting for the directive from the DAR central office before conducting an inventory within a 60-day transition period.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 38 last August 7, revoking the creation of NIR for lack of funds.
EO No. 183, which created the NIR, was signed by former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III on May 29, 2015. It separated Negros Occidental from Western Visayas and Negros Oriental from Central Visayas to form a one-island region.
Both the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry have proposed to the National Economic Development Authority to make Negros Island a special area for development that will be directed and managed by a Negros Island Development Council.(PNA)
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