ZAMBOANGA CITY – Malacañang Palace has imposed anew a moratorium on the transfer of regional government offices from this city to Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.
The freeze order is based on Memorandum Circular (MC) 18, signed on Wednesday by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, which took effect immediately.
Mayor John Dalipe and 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe have lobbied for the suspension, arguing that there is a need to reevaluate the implementation of the full transfer of the regional offices relative to the ongoing devolution of national government services.
According to the Palace memorandum, the moratorium also intends to provide an opportunity to study and re-assess the justifications for, as well as the implications of the transfer of regional offices to Pagadian City from this city.
Government agencies, it said, are enjoined to suspend the relocation of their regional offices from Zamboanga City to Pagadian City “pending the study of the political, economic, and social implications of said transfer.”
“The regional offices that are already in Pagadian City shall continue to operate thereat,” the circular added.
Mayor Dalipe said six regional government offices remain in this city.
“This is good news. With this moratorium, the regional directors and the employees are now at peace since cases are being filed against them if they will not transfer to Pagadian City,” he said in a press conference here Thursday.
All regional government offices except those of the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of Tourism were transferred to Pagadian City under Executive Order (EO) 429 issued in 1990 by then-president Corazon Aquino.
EO 429 reorganized the administrative regions in Mindanao to guarantee the effective delivery of the field services of government agencies, taking into consideration the formation then of the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The same order reorganized Region 9 and designated Pagadian City as the regional center, and Zamboanga City as the commercial and industrial center of Western Mindanao. (PNA)
