BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Will the provincial government of Negros Occidental transfer to Talisay City?
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the possibility of relocating the capitol there is being studied.
The plan is in its early stages, according to provincial consultant and former Negros Occidental 3rd District congressman Alfredo Benitez.
The provincial capitol is currently located in this city. Benitez said it is difficult for the seat of the provincial government to be in a jurisdiction it does not control.
Bacolod is an independent city.
According to Lacson, the provincial government owns a 25-hectare property in Talisay City.
“If we continue with the plan to build new government offices at the old Provincial Administration Center, it will become so crowded. We will have a problem with parking spaces,” Lacson said.
The transfer was broached last year yet. Lacson said he had consulted some mayors.
His predecessor, the late governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., planned the transfer, too, he revealed.
Lacson said he will also consult the business sector.
What will happen to the current capitol here if the transfer pushes through?
It will be used for “special functions”, said Lacson.
Talisay City is a fourth-class component city of Negros Occidental. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 102,214 people.
Talisay City is about seven kilometers north of Bacolod City, facing the Bacolod-Silay Access Road in the east.
It is part of the metropolitan area called Metro Bacolod, which includes its neighbors Silay to the north and Bacolod to the south.
Talisay City has a total land area of 20,118 hectares./PN