Carla P. Gomez

Toboso and Isabela towns in Negros Occidental will be free zones in the 2022 polls, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, United Negros Alliance (UNegA) secretary general, said Sunday, September 5.Love Negros headed by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and UNegA led by Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer have entered into an alliance for the 2022 polls but in some local government units they cannot prevent opposing groups from fielding candidates, Escalante said.In Toboso, two Love Negros members are being considered to run for mayor against Madonnah Marañon Jaojoco, the wife of outgoing mayor Richard Jaojoco, of UNegA, Lacson said earlier.In Isabela, Vice Mayor Renato Malabor Jr. of UNegA will challenge Mayor Irene Montilla of Love Negros, Escalante said.*

A Bacolod resident was sentenced to life imprisonment for the sale of illegal drugs while two women were acquitted on Friday, September 3.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier, Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52, sentenced Jenro Gavaran Hornoz, alias “Tak-Tak”, to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of .044 gram of shabu for P200 to a police poseur buyer at Hernaez Street, Purok Katilingban, Barangay 40, Bacolod City, on Nov. 17, 2019.On his arrest seized from his possession were 1.704 grams of shabu for which he was also sentenced to 12 years and eight months as minimum to 17 years and eight months as maximum imprisonment and to pay a fine of P300,000.His immediate transfer from the Bacolod City District Jail to the National Bilibid Prison in Munti...

The COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are on the rise again and are suspected to have been triggered by the Delta variant, officials said Friday, September 3.The active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental Friday were 971 from 645 on August 23, or an increase of 326 cases in less than two weeks, the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) reported.The number of COVID-19 deaths in Negros Occidental were 588 on August 23, with 602 on August 31 and 620 on September 3,the PIMT added.“There have been a number of days where we had triple digit increases, it’s that rollercoaster ride - it goes up, it goes down,” Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.“Personally I’d like to think we can already attribute that to the Delta variant, because we all know the Delta is more ...

The police have found closed-circuit television (CCTV) footages that could lead them to the killers of a Bacolod anti-drugs cop, Maj. Ramil Sarona, Bacolod Police Station 1 chief, said Friday, September 3.Two suspects on board a motorcycle shot and killed SSgt. Joseph Nepomuceno, 37, at Rosario Street in Barangay 38, Bacolod City, on Sunday, August 29.The suspects, who were wearing helmets, were seen in the CCTV footages on board a speeding black scooter.The Philippine National Police has created the “Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Nepomuceno” to investigate the killing of Nepomuceno, who was a member of the City's Drug Enforcement Unit.Nepomuceno was a scholar who worked as a janitor and a jeep dispatcher to earn money to finish his studies and become a policeman,...

PCL Negros Occidental president Ryan Gamboa and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson (2nd and 3rd from left , seated) signed a Memorandum of Agreement on Friday for the allocation of P1 million for PCL priority projects.*Richard Malihan photoGov. Eugenio Jose Lacson called on the members of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Negros Occidental Federation to be exemplars of discipline and adherence to COVID-19 health protocols to inspire other Negrenses to do the same.Lacson issued the call in his speech at the PCL Week rites at the Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City Friday, September 3.The theme of the celebration is “2021 PCL Week: Unified towards strengthening COVID-19 pandemic response.”“The course of action we are going to take, which on your part involves the swift and time...

Neg Occ photoThe first batch of migratory workers set to work in Negros Occidental sugarcane farms have arrived from Antique, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Friday, September 3.The 33 cane cutters from Antique arrived Friday and were swabbed for COVID-19 tests. They will be quarantined in the farm where they will be employed until their test results are out, Lacson said.About 4,000 migratory workers are expected to arrive in Negros Occidental as the milling season starts, he said.“It’s very important that we have these people. It is very difficult to find cane cutters in Negros Occidental,” he said.But he stressed that there is a protocol to follow, all incoming migratory workers must be tested for COVID-19.The farm owners are contributing to the COVID-19 tests, he a...

PCL Negros Occidental president Ryan Gamboa and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson , right.*Richard Malihan photoThe Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Negros Occidental Federation is in full support of the reelection bids of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer in 2022, its president Ryan Gamboa said Friday, September 3.Lacson and Ferrer have agreed on a Love Negros-United Negros Alliance merger and the PCL is also in full support of that, said Gamboa in an interview during a program to mark PCL Week at the Capitol in Bacolod City.However, it cannot be avoided that there will be some people who cannot agree on unified tickets in certain local government units, Gamboa said.They will leave such matters to Lacson and Ferrer to resolve, he said.“But most of the ...

City PIO photoThe Philippine National Police has created the “Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Nepomuceno” to investigate the killing of a member of the City's Drug Enforcement Unit, Col. Manuel Placido, Bacolod police director, said Thursday, September 2.Placido said the SITG will focus its investigation into the killing of SSgt. Joseph Nepomuceno, 37, at Rosario Street in Barangay 38, Bacolod City, on Sunday. Those responsible for his death must answer for the crime, he said.They are also separately investigating the beheading of Glen Paul Bautista Castillo, 42, whose body was left in the same area where Nepomuceno was killed on Tuesday night, Placido said.Castillo, who was out on bail, was facing charges for illegal possession of drugs.Placido said they cannot...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Thursday, September 2, that there will be a P5 billion budget for Negros Occidental in 2022.That is because the Negros Occidental provincial government is expected to get an additional P1.4 billion for 2022 under the National Fund Allotment, previously known as the Internal Revenue Allotment.He attributed the increase to the Supreme Court’s Mandanas Ruling increasing the share of national government tax revenue transferred to local governments.Lacson said he has until October to submit his 2022 proposed provincial government budget to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for review and approval.Among the priorities to be included in the budget will be health amid the provinces’ continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture and infrastruc...

Five members of a family of eight hit with COVID-19 in Barangay, Sum-ag, Bacolod City, were set to be extracted from their home and brought to a quarantine facility Thursday night, September 2, Barangay Captain Rodney Carmona said.They initially refused to be brought to a quarantine facility, Ernie Pineda, head of the City Extraction Team, said.Carmona said the family asked that a family member suffering from cancer and her husband, who were also COVID-19 positive, be allowed to remain in their home. They said it was necessary that she remain at home so her medication can be administered properly, Carmona.The first member of the family detected to have COVID-19 is a nurse who is already in isolation at a Bacolod hospital, Carmona said. The seven other family members were tested...