Carla P. Gomez

Richard Malihan photoThe United Negros Alliance (UNegA) released the list of its 14 mayoral candidates for the 2022 polls, and reiterated its support for the reelection bid of Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer on Tuesday, August 31.Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, UNegA secretary general, said their party is fielding 11 mayors running for re-election and three new mayoral bets.The three new UNegA mayoral bets are Vice Mayor Narciso Javelosa Jr. for Sagay City, Madonnah Marañon Jaojoco, wife of Mayor Richard Jaojoco, for Toboso, and Vice Mayor Renato Malabor Jr. for Isabela, Escalante said.The 11 UNegA mayors running for re-election are Marxlen dela Cruz of Salvador Benedicto, Salvador Escalante – Cadiz City, Manuel Escalante III – Manapla, Nichola...

Mayor Alejandro Mirasol and his wife. Mary Ann.*It will be a husband and wife tandem running for the top posts of Binalbagan town in Negros Occidental in the May 2022 elections.Binalbagan Mayor Alejandro Mirasol said Tuesday, August 31, that he is running for reelection with his wife, Mary Ann Mirasol, as his runningmate.He said his wife is more than qualified for the vice mayoral post.Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, United Negros Alliance secretary general, said the Mirasols will be running under the UNegA ticket and have already been issued certificates of nomination by the party.Alejandro Mirasol is expected to be challenged by former mayor Emmanuel Aranda.Mirasol said incumbent vice mayor Samuel Gavaran will run as councilor.The mayor said he is supporting t...

Three of the latest Negros Occidental residents hit by the Delta variant were found negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, August 31.The two additional residents who tested negative were a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City and a 69-year-old female from Valladolid, he said.On Monday, Diaz said the 79-year-old female from Pulupandan had tested negative.All three have been declared recovered and released from quarantine, he said.A 9-year-old boy hit by the Delta variant in Silay City died on August 2, he said.Diaz said the COVID-19 risk classification of Negros Occidental was raised to moderate and its alert level to three because of the detection of residents hit by the Delta, Alpha, Beta and P.3 variants.However,...

The tanker that fell on a tricycle killing its driver and critically injuring its passenger.*San Carlos DRRMO photoA driver was killed and a passenger critically injured when a liquid fertilizer tanker fell on the tricycle they were riding on in San Carlos City at 8:33 a.m. Tuesday, August 31, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management officer Joe Recalex Alingasa Jr. said.Killed was Jojo Piernas, 50, who was crushed by the tanker, and injured was Rodolofo Gatungay Jr., 37, who sustained a head injury.The liquid fertilizer tanker rolled over and collided with the tricycle at the national highway near Barangay 1 in San Carlos City, Alingasa said.The tanker was loaded with spentwash.The driver, Renante Tanjay, 31, is now in police custody, he added.*

The Department of Health (DOH) raised the COVID-19 risk classification of Bacolod City from low to high on Monday, August 30, Dr. Bea Camille Fillario Natalaray, DOH 6 medical officer III, said in a virtual press conference.It also raised Negros Occidental’s risk classification from low to moderate.The COVID-19 alert levels of Bacolod and Negros Occidental were also raised to three, which means case counts are high or increasing, she said.Areas under Alert Level 3 must ramp-up active case finding, find clusters and super spreader events to explain increase in cases, and conduct active community testing, Natalaray said.She said the Philippine Genome Center during the weekend reported additional persons infected with the Delta, Alpha, Beta and P.3 variants in both areas, whic...

Residents line up at SM City Bacolod Monday, August 30, to register to vote but not all were accomodated.*There was a long line of Bacolod residents at SM City on Monday, August 30, trying to register to vote as the Commission on Elections resumed operations after some of its personnel were hit with COVID-19.Comelec Bacolod stopped operations starting August 16 after three of its personnel tested positive for COVID-19.A Bacolod resident waiting in line with her two daughters said Monday was the third time they tried to register to vote and the third time they were sent away.They were standing in line since 8:15 a.m. only to be told at 9 a.m. to go home as only 400 persons could be accommodated for the day, she said. People lining up, some of whom were there earlier than t...

Pulupandan LGU photoOne of the three latest Negros Occidental residents hit by the Delta variant was found negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, August 30.The 79-year-old female from Pulupandan tested negative, while the results of a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City and a 69-year-old female from Valladolid were being awaited, he said.Three close contacts in La Carlota City and one in Valladolid were also tested for COVID-19, he added.The houses of the Delta-hit residents were locked down pending the release of their COVID-19 test results.A 9-year-old boy hit by the Delta variant in Silay City died on August 2, he said.La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalando-on said the carrier of the Delta variant in his city was a l...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 45, Series of 2021, on Monday, August 30, extending the General Community Quarantine with Heightened Restrictions (GCQ-HR) in Bacolod City until September 7.The EO was issued in compliance with the decision of the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, he said.Bacolod City has been under GCQ-HR since July 15.The city had 911 COVID-19 cases on Monday, the Department of Health reported. It has also been hit by 10 Delta variant cases.The NIATF also retained the General Community Quarantine status of Negros Occidental.Bacolod City curfew hours will remain from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., mass gatherings are prohibited, wakes and religious gatherings are limited to 10 percent of venue capa...

Bacolod City launches its 24/7 vaccination center and third mobile vaccination unit owned by Merzci Pasalubong, at the Jollibee branch along Gatuslao-Burgos streets on Monday, August 30.*City PIO photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia called the country’s COVID-19 frontliners modern day heroes as the nation marked National Heroes Day on Monday, August 30.“As we are in our second year amid the pandemic, we again honor our modern day heroes, our frontliners, who despite their exhaustion and fear, continue to brave the battlegrounds of this health crisis,” Lacson said.Lacson urged everyone else to get vaccinated and adhere to strict health protocols that are crucial measures in the fight against Covad-19.Now is the time to rise above...

The Philippine Genome Center reported that four Negros Occidental residents have been hit by the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, while three other variants hit 10 more, Provincial Administrator Rayfrado Diaz said Sunday, August 29.The four hit by the Delta variant were a 9-year-old boy from Silay City, a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City who arrived from Ioilo, 79-year-old female from Pulupandan who arrived from Rizal, and 69-year-old female from Valladolid whose whole genome sequencing results were released on Saturday, August 28, he said.The 9-year-old boy died on August 2 and the three others are up for repeat RT-PCR tests, he added.Meanwhile, a Cauayan resident was hit by the Alpha variant and an Ilog resident by the Beta variant, he said.Hit by the P.3 va...