Saturday, May 16, 2020
BY MARCHEL P. ESPINA

Former Rep. Alfredo Benitez, provincial government economic adviser, said the business sector has asked Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to be united on their policies as both local governments ease restrictions for the “new normal.”

Benitez met yesterday with the business groups in the province for Negros Occidental’s Road to Economic Recovery Plan at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City.

At the meeting, Benitez said the business sector asked the provincial and city governments “to be coherent” on their policies. Bacolod, being a highly-urbanized city, is not under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.

“They want a singular stand on the policy,” Benitez said, adding that one concern pointed out was the “movement”.

“What they were saying is that if there is cargo from the province to Bacolod, it will be hard if there are different policies and guidelines because you have to contend with different applications,” he said.

He also cited the different approaches to the quarantine protocols by the provincial and city governments earlier this month, with the province downgrading to general community quarantine and Bacolod extending the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.

Now, both Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are under GCQ, as recommended by the national Inter-Agency Task Force.

Benitez said they plan to sit down with the city officials on the matter.

Meanwhile, the provincial government and the business sector also tackled options in terms of investment opportunities in the province, Benitez said.

“They want more investments from the government. They were asking about the infrastructure projects of the national and provincial governments. We are discussing options,” Benitez said.

On his proposal to develop the information technology industry, which he calls the “digital revolution”, he said the business sector is “happy about it.”*