Monday , May 21, 2018
BY TERESA D. ELLERA

NEGROS Occidental Third District Representative Alfredo Benitez assured his fellow Negrenses yesterday, May 20, that the Visayan Bloc in the House of Representatives is supporting the propped Negrosanon Federated Region (NFR) under the proposed shift to federalism.

He said he believes that the recommendation of the members of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to study the shift to federalism is sufficient enough.

"At the end of the day, the proposal will pass Congress to propose the amendments in the charter. It is a substantial support. The Visayan Bloc will definitely push, in fact, we have already signed a manifesto and we have even pushed a bill for the Negros Island Region," Benitez said.

For his part, Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will tell the president about the proposed NFR if given the chance.

However, he said that many members of ConCom are now convinced that it is feasible to have NFR so with that push from ConCom, “I see the chance again for the Negros Islands Region (NIR) of NFR now.”

On the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or Philippine National Police (PNP) Housing Project in Talisay City where President Rodrigo Duterte led the groundbreaking yesterday, Lacson said it is good that police and the army in the province are also beneficiaries to the project which is among the promises of the president.

Benitez, for his part, said the government’s steps are on the right direction.

"Before there was only one design, whether it is for informal settlers, for PNP or AFP. It was only 22 square meters but in this case, it is bigger with 80 square meters per unit which I said they step in the right direction," he said.

He also said that the as chairman of the House committee on housing and urban development, they will make sure that the housing units are not substandard.

This time, National Housing Authority (NHA) is already strict on their contractor and monitoring of the project, he added.

He further said that he will ask Duterte to expand the unlocking of government lands. "We have vast of government lands, it was not maximized because some became idle lands while others have been occupied by informal settlers. We Will ask the president to utilize them for socialized housing.”

Benitez and Lacson were among the local officials who attended the groundbreaking of the Housing Projects for the members of the AFP and PNP in the province yesterday.

Benitez also confirmed he had dinner with the president with some local officials.

But Pontevedra Mayor Jose Benito Alonso said that some mayors and local officials were invited to the dinner with the President but he was one among those who had not received the invitation.