Carla P. Gomez

Negros Occidental receives 17,000 doses of Moderna vaccines Friday, October 15.*Contributed photoNegros Occidental received more COVID-19 vaccines Friday, October 15, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The 17,000 doses of Moderna vaccines arrived at the Bacolod-Silay Airport Friday morning, he said.The Moderna vaccines will be rolled out as soon as possible along with the Pfizer vaccines received by the province earlier, he said.There were 4,489 active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental on Friday, the Provincial Incident Management Team said.There were also 12 new COVID-19 deaths, the PIMT added.*

A total of 69 nurses employed by the Negros Occidental provincial government will get salary upgrades in compliance with the Department of Budget and Management circular modifying their positions, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said in a press release from the Capitol Friday, October 15.The province ensures the welfare of health workers by implementing the salary adjustment of reclassified Nurse 2 to Nurse 1 by reverting them back to Nurse 2 and granting them a salary increase from Salary Grade 15 to Salary Grade 16 effective June 2021, he said.The Sangguniang Panlalawigan recently passed a resolution adopting DBM Budget Circular No. 2021-2 dated Aug. 25, 2021, regarding the modification of nurse positions.The governor has acknowledged the key role of nurses in the fight against Covi...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has granted the request of Philippine Airlines to mount special flights from Manila to the Bacolod-Silay International Airport for fully vaccinated individuals from October 18 to November 29.Fully vaccinated individuals are now allowed to enter Negros Occidental and Bacolod City without presenting COVID-19 negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT – PCR) test results.The governor, in a letter to PAL Manager Rene Aviles Wednesday, October 13, informed him that his request to mount the special flights had been granted.Aviles in a letter to the governor dated October 12, sought permission to allow fully vaccinated individuals to travel from Manila to Bacolod.All passengers of the special flights will be given a ...

The Sangguniang Panlungsod approved the proposed P3.250 billion budget of Bacolod City for 2022 during its regular session Wednesday, October 13.The proposed P3.250 billion budget is 25 percent higher than this year’s budget of P2.6 billion, Councilor Cindy Rojas, who heads the SP Committee on Finance, said Thursday, October 14.She attributed the budget increase to the National Tax Allotment (NTA), formerly the Internal Revenue Allotment, granted following the Supreme Court’s Mandanas ruling that raised local government shares of national taxesRojas said P2,156,905,199 or 66 percent of Bacolod’s 2022 budget will come from the NTA and P1,093,094,801 or 34 percent will come from local revenues.A large chunk of the budget will go to the COVID-19 response of the city, she added...

Ten Shih Tzus, including about four puppies, were killed in a fire that hit a room on the third floor of a building at Tindalo Avenue at the Capitol Shopping Center in Bacolod City shortly before noon Thursday, October 14.Only two Shih Tzus named Peachy and Cotton survived the fire.The building hit by the fire houses Frank General Merchandising on the first floor while the second and third floors are residential areas, Chief Inspector Rodel Legaspi, Bacolod City fire marshal, said.They received the fire call at 11:57 a.m., it was placed under control at 12:06 p.m. and fire out was declared at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, Legaspi said.The fire began at the bedroom of the spouses Noel and Jane Chu on the third floor and its cause is believed to be “electrical in nature,” he said. ...

A traveler from Iloilo without a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) test result slipped through the BREDCO port in Bacolod City on Wednesday, October 13, and it was later learned that he was positive for COVID-19, Em Ang, Emergency Operations Center executive director, said.The 48-year-old male traveler from Estancia, Iloilo, arrived on a roll-on-roll-off vessel and went to the Department of Foreign Affairs office and visited relatives at Barangay Felisa, she said.The Bacolod personnel at the pier said they allowed the man to enter the city because he presented a RT-PCR test receipt and was in a hurry because he had a DFA appointment, Ang added.After he had entered Bacolod and had contact with people at the DFA and Felisa the laboratory called that he test...

Bago City still requires fully vaccinated travelers to undergo COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) tests, Mayor Nicholas Yulo said on Thursday, October 14.Incoming travelers will be quarantined pending the release of their negative RT-PCR results, he said.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said incoming fully vaccinated travelers against COVID-19 will be allowed to enter without negative RT-PCR test results.But Yulo said he will still require travelers to undergo RT-CR tests because Bago City is currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.Bago City had 214 active COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, he said.*

Bacolod mayoral aspirant Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez slammed a fake Facebook post quoting him as saying that he would pay for the electricity and water bills of Bacolod residents in need of help.The post said under the “Bill Nyu Sagot Ko Program“ of Benitez residents can bring their water and electricity bills covering two months to his headquarters and he will pay for them.The circulation of fake news against him, which has been traced to his political opponents, is becoming a pattern, Benitez said Thursday, October 14.This propaganda obviously came from persons or entities with the malicious intent of doing harm to the good image and increasing public support given to him by Bacolodnons, without regard for the harm they are doing to their fellow Bacolodnons by giving the...

City PIO photoThe Bacolod City government is further strengthening its anti-COVID vaccination drive via a weekend jab targeting 1,600 vaccinees at the 888 Chinatown Square mall on Oct. 23-24.The 888 Mall vaccination will be held simultaneously with the SM City and Ayala Malls Capitol Central schedule, and the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF) is expecting a big turnout of vaccinees as the COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC) will also accommodate non-Bacolod City residents who work or study here, EOC-TF Executive Director and CoVaC Coordinator Em Legaspi-Ang said in a press release from the Bacolod City Public Information Office."Everyone is now a top priority. Our goal is to protect everyone and save our healthcare system by achieving herd immunity as fast as we ...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the P1.7 billion allotted for personal services in the proposed 2022 budget of Negros Occidental covers another round of salary increases for provincial government employees.“Whatever is due to our government employees, of course we will give it,” the governor said Thursday, October 14.The provincial government will be granting the increases under the second tranche of the Salary Standardization Law 4, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The governor said they have not discussed yet how much the bonuses of the provincial government employees will be in December.“What is available to be given as bonuses, we will give it,” Lacson said.Lacson submitted a P5.7 billion Negros Occidental proposed budget for 2022 to the Sangguniang Panlal...