The Regional Development Council (RDC) VIII nominated four (4) local chief executives and three (3) private sector representatives (PSRs) for the Council’s Chair and Co-Chair for the 2016-2019 term of office during its full council and reorganizational meeting on 31 August 2016.

The nominees from the local chief executives are: (1) Hon. Leopoldo Dominico L. Petilla, Governor of the Province of Leyte, (2) Hon. Sharee Ann Tan-De Los Santos, Governor of the Province of Samar, (3) Hon. Cristina G. Romualdez, Mayor of Tacloban City, and (4) Hon. Richard I. Gomez, Mayor of Ormoc City. The PSR-nominees are: (1) Atty. Roy Bernard C. Fiel, Agribusiness Sector, (2) Tiburcio A. Morales, Jr., Development Administration, and (3) Oliver Cam, Business Groups.

The nomination was pursuant to Executive Order No. 325, Series of 1996, entitled “Reorganization of the Regional Development Councils” which provides that the RDC Chair and Co-Chair shall serve for a fixed term of three years coinciding with the regular term of local elective officials. The 2013-2016 term of office of the RDC Chair and Co-Chair ended on 30 June 2016.

EO 325 provides that if the RDC Chair comes from the government sector, the Co-Chair must come from the private sector and vice versa.

The process of selection of RDC VIII Chair and Co-Chair was based on the guidelines approved by the Council through Resolution No. 81, Series of 2016. The reorganizational meeting was graced by Archt. Librando Baisa, as representative of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino.

Jam Colas, DRD, NEDA VIII