P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 376a
A total of seven (7) regional offices, to be determined by the Department of Agriculture, with the purpose of offering all the services needed by farmers and the agricultural industry, are hereby established; Provided, That for the location of said regional offices the Secretary shall evaluate and preferably consider the location of those already existing taking into consideration the effectiveness of the services rendered by them in the specific areas served, as well as the convenience of their respective locations for the farmers and the agricultural industry comprised within their specific service areas. Each region shall establish an office that shall have representation of all the corporation and service divisions of the Department of Agriculture, taking into consideration the crops or predominant enterprises in the specific area served, and the potential for the establishing of new agro-industrial enterprises.
The Secretary of Agriculture shall be empowered to organize the services rendered by these offices to farmers and agro-industrial entrepreneurs on the basis of the geographic proximity of the municipalities or production areas.
The Secretary shall also be empowered to redistribute the physical, economic and personnel resources of the Department and of the agencies attached thereto, in order to achieve the efficient operation of the offices located in the agricultural regions.
Each of the agricultural regions shall be administered by a Regional Director who shall be of free selection and removal by the Secretary, who shall supervise all the technicians and other personnel assigned to the region, and shall ensure that services are rendered in efficiently and in a reasonable period of time, without taking into consideration other factors such as capital, cre[ed], or political affiliation of the petitioner of the service.
History —April 25, 1940, No. 60, p. 420, added as § 25 on Aug. 26, 1994, No. 104, § 2; Aug. 8, 2002, No. 136, § 1.