• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has confirmed that almost 40 of the 50 Visayas lawmakers under the 20th Congress are now members of the Visayan Bloc.
As the lead convenor, Benitez met on Sept. 26 with the region’s legislators, some of them neophyte members of the House of Representatives, and briefed them on how the group started as well as its goal and direction of adding allocation and resources to the Visayas.
Those who attended from Negros Occidental, as seen in the photo posted by Benitez on his social media account on the same day, were his son, Third District Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez, Sixth District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez, and Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Manuel Frederick Ko.
The former House Speaker, Leyte First District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, had previously formed the Visayas Caucus, bringing together House members across the Visayas to forge a more unified and effective voice for the region in national policy-making.
Romualdez served as the convenor, with four regional chairpersons, including Rep. Janet Garin for Region 6 (Western Visayas), Rep. Lolypop Ouano-Dizon for Region 7 (Central Visayas), Rep. Yedda Romualdez for Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), and Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer (Negros Island Region).
In his Facebook post, Benitez said he has convened the Visayan Bloc “to strengthen regional collaboration toward meaningful reforms and progress for the region.”
“Together, we remain committed to ensuring that our collective efforts lead to lasting progress of our people,” he added. | GB
