• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
Department of Social Welfare and Development-Negros Island Region held a blessing and inauguration ceremony to officially open its Field and Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) offices at Talay, Dumaguete City, in Negros Oriental yesterday.
The field office was stationed in Dumaguete City as prescribed in RA 12000, or an act establishing the NIR, which aims to ensure the effective delivery of public services to the region through its regional offices.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian issued a special-order designating members of the DSWD-NIR core team to ensure continuity and service efficiency, where some heads and key members of regional offices in Regions VI and VII were assigned to the NIR regional office to lay the groundwork for its full operations.
Currently, there are about 1059 DSWD-NIR personnel assigned across regional and satellite offices who come from the neighboring regions.
Gatchalian disclosed during his speech that at the end of the year 2025, all employees from neighboring regions who have been serving in the NIR field office will be sent back to their original offices. After that, they are allowed to apply for a plantilla or permanent position in DSWD-NIR once the Department of Budget Management (DBM) issues line items for all government offices in the region.
Moreover, DSWD-NIR Director Arwin Razo, who was designated by Gatchalian on February 28, 2025, vowed that they will make sure that their services are close to the people.
“We [DSWD-NIR] are ready to continue our service and in serving the welfare of the people,” he said in his speech.
DSWD Undersecretary for Operations Group Monina Josefina Romualdez served as the Chairperson of the Technical Working Group for the Operationalization of NIR.
“With this new DSWD office, we begin anchoring our vision into reality; we start embedding our social safety net deeper into the fabric of every community, ensuring that no child, no elderly citizen, and no indigent family is left behind,” she stated in her message.
Present during the ceremony were Regional Director of DSWD Field Office VII Shalaine Marie Lucero, CESO III, Negros Oriental Governor Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria, 2nd District Representative Ma. Isabel Sagarbarria, Dumaguete Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria, PSA-NIR John Campomanes, Negros Occidental 6th District Representative Mercedes Alvarez, and the DSWD beneficiaries of the crisis intervention program.*
