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[av_heading heading=’Cops want Negros Region retained ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – The Police Regional Office 18 (PRO-18) wants the government to keep Negros Island Region (NIR).
Operations are faster and easier under one region, said Chief Inspector Dianne Grace Catedral, PRO-18 public information officer.
“We are one with our governor (Alfredo Marañon Jr. of Negros Occidental), we will pray na indi ma-abolish ang NIR,” Catedral said.
Marañon earlier called on Negrenses to “pray so that our beloved President will be guided, gaan sia sang clear view.”
On Thursday Marañon, capitol department heads and San Sebastian Cathedral rector Father Felix Pasquin prayed at the Office of the Governor.
“Lord … rule among our national leaders so that we may attain the dreams that we have for our island region,” Pasquin said.
“Since we are in just one island, consolidating reports is very convenient,” said Catedral.
And the PRO-18 may now compete with other regional offices in administrative and operational matters, she said.
For Superintendent Moises Villaceran, chief of the Police-Community Relations Division, keeping the NIR would redound to more developments.
Progress may not be felt now, especially with the budget restrictions, but Villaceran told Panay News he believes it will be in a year or two.
Units under the PRO-18 — and the regional headquarters itself — have been receiving logistical support from the government, including new patrol vehicles, since the island region’s creation in 2015.
‘UNCLEAR FUTURE’
Negrenses have taken to social media their protest against the impending abolition of the NIR.
But not everyone would fight for the retention of the region.
It would be better for Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to return to Western Visayas and Central Visayas, respectively, a worker in an agency involved in disaster response told Panay News.
“Wala kami fear nga ma-dissolve,” said the employee, who refused to be identified for fear of reprimand.
In fact, “ga-look forward kami nga ma-dissolve and mabalik sa Regions 6 and 7 because mas established ini nga mga regions,” the source said.
The employee added: “Honestly, nabudlayan kami. We lack manpower and unclear ang future.”
‘CHIP IN’
Marañon insisted the two Negros provinces can help raise funds for the budget of regional government offices.
According to the governor, 35 government agencies already have fully operating regional offices in the NIR.
“Ma-chip in ang two provinces kag mga cities para i-gasto sa regional offices,” he said.
He stressed that Gov. Roel Degamo of Negros Oriental was amenable to this.
In August, Marañon already told the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines (VMLP) Negros Occidental chapter about this plan.
VMLP considers asking similar contributions from the municipalities, said the chapter president Gerardo Rojas of Murcia town.
Marañon was also open to the idea that Negros provinces get their budgets from their former regions while still under the NIR.
“We can exist in such situation. Indi lang (kami) pag-i-abolish,” he said./PN
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