• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
As it marked its 28th charter anniversary yesterday, Talisay City will soon have a state of the art evacuation center, Negros Occidental 3rd District Representative Javier Miguel Benitez announced.
Benitez, who attended the Talisay City Pasidungog awarding rites, said the evacuation center will have a budget of P55 million.
Before he was elected as congressman of the Negros Occidental 3rd district in 2025, Benitez, then a mayor, facilitated the construction of a P55-million evacuation center and multiple-purpose building implemented through the assistance of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), in Barangay XIII, Victorias City.
Elated by the announcement of Benitez, Mayor Rowena “Weng” Lopez-Lizares said the proposed evacuation center will be built in Brgy. Concepcion, Talisay City, where two of its barangays- Zones 12-A and 14-A, which are located beside a river, are not spared by floods during typhoons.
Lizares said they are presently using the Talisay City gym, which is now undergoing repairs, and even schools, as evacuation centers.
Lizares, who is the first woman mayor of Talisay City, thanked Benitez for choosing Talisay City as the site of another state of the art evacuation center in the 3rd district of Negros Occidental, after Victorias City.
Talisay City will provide the lot for the evacuation center, while Benitez will take charge of the building, she added.
Talisay City is also set to have its own hospital, following the donation of a one-hectare lot for its site.
Lizares said they will have a meeting with the architect for the plans, design and budget of the city-owned hospital.
Asked for the source of the budget, the mayor said they may tap the Department of Health, or national government officials, also raising the possibility of securing loans from government financial institutions.*
