• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday confirmed that he will endorse Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to be the first chairperson of the Regional Development Council of the newly created Negros Island Region.
While there is no call yet for the submission of names to be RDC chairman, as the three governors of NIR have to sit down to discuss it, Lacson said it will be President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who will choose from the names submitted to him.
He, however said “we don’t even know if it would be practical to appoint one, considering that by October, we would have filed our candidacy, and the focus may be on election.”
But when the time comes and we have to submit names, then of course,
“I will endorse Mayor Albee Benitez to be first RDC chairman of NIR,” Lacson added.
Benitez yesterday presided over the RDC 6 second quarter full council meeting, which was held at the L’Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City, which was attended by regional directors of various government agencies in Western Visayas.
Included in the agenda was the drafting of the National Security Strategy for 2024, the presentation of the National Security Policy for 2024-2028 which is under the Executive Order No. 37, which was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Also discussed were the endorsement of recommendation of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Inter-Island Link Bridge project steering committee to appoint the Department of Public Works and Highways Unified Project Management Office as its co-chairperson, and the proposed Capiz circumferential and coastal road project of DPWH.*
