MANILA, Philippines – Department of the Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy assured the public on Monday, August 14, that regular government employees in the now defunct Negros Island Region (NIR) are not in danger of displacement.

“Basically, yung Negros Island hinati mo yung island, hinati mo into two regions, they will just go back to regions 6 and 7…We believe that they can be absorbed to the two regions,” Cuy said.

With the island-region bisected once more, employees who worked in the NIR regional office in Bacolod City would have to be transferred to either Iloilo City in Region 6 or Cebu City in Region 7. Iloilo City and Cebu City serve as government bases of Regions 6 and 7. 

But the DILG has a solution.

According to DILG NIR regional director Anthony Nuyda, they will make their workers “satellite employees” answering to two different regions while remaining in the Negros island.

This means they will represent Regions 6 and 7 in the provincial regional offices of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental in Bacolod City and Dumaguete, respectively.

“Wala masyadong impact. Kung san dati na sila nandoon, doon na talaga sila i-aassign,” Nuyda told Rappler. (There won’t be much impact. Where they were assigned before, they will remain there.)

He added that they have natives of Dumaguete easily accepting the offer to go back to their province, because they worked in Bacolod only during the formation of the NIR in 2015.

Nuyda said other government agencies can do the same to assure employees that they remain working in the recently-bisected island.

He admitted, however, that contractuals’ job security may be in danger, as they hold positions on a per-project basis.

This development comes after President Rodrigo Duterte reversed the order of his predecessor Benigno Aquino III through Executive Order 38. The Aquino EO integrated Negros Occidental (Region 6) and Negros Oriental (Region 7) into the Negros Island Region, to streamline  government services and to give Negrosanons a region of their own – one of the people’s long-time dreams.

The President cited lack of funds as the reason for the decision, angering the island’s residents. – Rappler.com