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Alvarez pitches Negros as new seat of gov’t ‘ 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 – House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez believes Negros Island Region can be the Philippines’ new seat of government.
Alvarez proposed the relocation of Malacañang, Senate, House of Representatives, and other government agencies to Negros to decongest Manila — an idea seen to bolster calls to keep the island’s status as a region.
For Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., the proposal was a “virtual endorsement” of the region.
Transferring Malacañang and other key state offices from Metro Manila to Negros will “speed up the development of Visayas.”
A national newspaper report quoted Alvarez as saying in a radio interview last week that he was not in favor of moving the seat of government and state offices to Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City.
Clark was the preferred new location due to its proximity to Manila, the report said.
“Clark is far to those coming from Visayas and Mindanao, and even those from Bicol region,” Alvarez said in the report.
Mindanao is “too far to those from Luzon,” so the new location must be “somewhere in between, like Bohol, Negros Island, Panay Island, or the Samar-Leyte provinces,” said the House Speaker.
Alvarez prefers Negros because it is “accessible to everybody” and has “vast areas” that can accommodate the Palace and state houses. But he did not say where in the island region he would like to relocate these offices.
“Very good. Very positive. We should thank him,” Marañon said of Alvarez’s idea.
The governor said Alvarez supports the retention of the island region.
When Alvarez visited this city in October, Marañon said the House Speaker told him, “If I had my way, I will put the national capital in Negros.”
“And you know he has basis,” the governor told reporters.
For instance, São Paulo became “well-developed and well-planned” when Brazil made it the capital city to replace Buenos Aires, which was “very congested,” Marañon claimed.
Alvarez’s idea boosts the campaign to keep Negros region, said the governor.
“We are gaining more supporters from the Cabinet,” he said. Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo was the latest supporter, he added.
Marañon believes President Rodrigo Duterte will back the region once he realizes it merits.
Duterte was set to sign an executive order (EO) abolishing Negros region, Palace and Cabinet officials announced in October.
They cited the unavailability of budget for Negros in the 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA), and even in this year’s GAA.
Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno in particular claimed maintaining the two-province region is “an expensive exercise.”
No abolition EO has been signed as of press time.
Then President Benigno Aquino III created Negros Island Region via EO No. 183./PN
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