An ordinance for the Development of the Information and Communication Technology Industry in the City of Bacolod was recently passed by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The ordinance authored by Councilors Jocelle Batapa-Sigue and Lyndon Caña, said the Information and Communication Technology industry is a relatively young industry in Bacolod City, with a huge promise for investment and employment.

While ordinarily, business is governed by the principle of free enterprise, experience of the other local government units have shown that it is impossible for the industry to succeed without adequate protective measures in place, it said. On the other hand, the City Council of Bacolod is also fully cognizant of the balancing principles of the Constitutional guarantee and protection against restraint of trade, free enterprise, equal opportunity and full employment, the ordinance said.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, by virtue of Executive Order No. 8 Series of 2005 dated May 27, 2005, has created the "Information Technology (I.T.) Focus Team," with a mandate to promote the ICT industry, it said.

Meanwhile, the SP also passed on first reading a proposed ordinance also authored by Batapa-Sigue, instituting stringent measures towards the protection of bio-diversity and the attainment of the status of the City of Bacolod as an Organic Food City by banning the entry, importation and introduction of genetically-modified plants and animals within territorial jurisdiction of the Province of Negros Occidental.*CGS

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