The Department of Social Welfare & Development in Negros Island is all set to close shop by the end of this month with regular employees returning to their mother units following the dissolution of the Negros Island Region.
President Duterte had ordered on Aug. 7 the abolition of the NIR or Region 18 through Executive Order No. 38 that revoked EO No. 38 signed by then President Benigno Aquino III for the NIR’s creation due to lack of funds.
The NIR was created on May 29, 2015 with the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental forming the new region and departing from Regions 7 and 6, respectively
Shalaine Lucero, outgoing DSWD-NIR regional director, disclosed Thursday afternoon that all regional NIR offices were given 60 days or until Sept. 30 to make the necessary arrangements to return to their mother regions.
Lucero, however, expressed gratitude and satisfaction that in the two years of existence in the NIR, the DSWD regional office had many accomplishments to speak of, particularly on the government’s programs and projects intended for the poor and the marginalized.
“We have served Negros Island well and we are so proud to say that in our first year of implementation in 2016, we had attained an outstanding rating from our central office”, Lucero said.
“And we’re just so happy that even with the short-lived region, I think majority of our part had established a very good relationship with the non-government agencies, NGOs, and the local government units,” she added.
Lucero went on to say that even without the NIR, they want to maintain that kind of relationship with them because DSWD-NIR would not have delivered their services well if not for them.
The DSWD official stressed that they are happy to leave NIR with the thought that people have felt contentment that “we actually gave them our best”.
The dissolution of the NIR will not impact much on the projects and programs of the DSWD in Negros Island because they have to ensure that the workers on the field will continue to deliver the programs.
The good thing about DSWD is that there is plenty of manpower in the field, especially in the LGUs, to ensure that the programs are implemented based on standards, according to Lucero.
She assured the public that despite the abolition of the NIR, DSWD will still be there to address the government’s efforts to address poverty. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)