Carla P. Gomez

The amendments to Central Negros Electric Cooperative’s (CENECO) articles of incorporation and bylaws were approved with slight revisions during ita virtual 43rd Annual General Membership Assembly Sunday afternoon, September 26.Also approved at the AGMA were the CENECO Union of Rational Employees Collective Bargaining Agreement and the Responsible Supervisory and Confidential Union of Employees Memorandum of Agreement.Members of the consumers’ group, Power Watch Negros, staged a picket in front of CENECO Sunday morning to oppose the holding of the AGMA.What transpired at the AGMA is tantamount to trampling on basic rights of CENECO’s consumers, Power Watch Negros secretary General Wennie Sancho said.Sancho condemned what he called the irregular, insidious and high-handed wa...

Senator Win Gatchalian assured Sunday, September 26, that the Senate is acting on the problem caused by the damaged National Grid Corporation of the Philippines's (NGCP) submarine cable between Cebu and Negros that has driven up power rates by an average of P1.60 per kWh.Gatchalian, who spoke at the Central Negros Occidental Cooperative virtual 43rd Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA), said the Senate Committee on Energy that he chairs has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to act on the matter.“Our position in the committee is that the increased rates should not be passed on to the consumers,” he said.Whoever destroyed the submarine cable should be made to pay, he said.The performance bond of the Department of Public Works and Highway...

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles assured on Sunday, September 26, that the national government aims to vaccinate 70 percent of the country’s population by the end of 2021 to achieve “population protection and to safely open the economy even more”.Nograles, who spoke at the Central Negros Occidental Cooperative virtual 43rd Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA), said 43 million vaccines had been administered nationwide with more than 19.6 million fully vaccinated and 23.4 million having received their first shot as of September 23.The COVID-19 vaccines are now arriving in the country on a continuous basis, and the priority are the regions, provinces, municipalities, Nograles, co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, assure...

The 25 rescued fishermen arrive at the Cadiz City Commercial Port at 5:15 p.m. Friday, September 24.*PCG photoA fishing boat from Cadiz City in Negros Occidental sank in the waters between Carles town in Iloilo province and Sicogon Island at 1 a.m. Friday leaving nine passengers, including the captain, missing, Captain Ludovico Librilla, Philippine Coast Guard Western Visayas deputy commander, said.He said 22 others on board the FB St. Peter The Fisherman II owned by Tristar Shipping Corp. based in Cadiz City were rescued, along with three others on a skiff boat.Their three other companions on board the skiff boat were able to rescue those on board the sinking vessel, Librilla said.The 22 on board the FB St. Peter the Fishermen II and the three others on the skiff boat were...

Maria Ines Sellado Benedicto who topped the September 2021 Physician Licensure Examination.*A resident of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental who topped the September 2021 Physician Licensure Examination wants to train in a government hospital to help overworked healthcare workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Maria Ines Sellado Benedicto, 26, topped the September 2021 Physician Licensure Examination with a rating of 87.83 percent, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced Friday, September 24.Also in the top one slot was Jude Philip Cebrecus of the Cebu Institute of Medicine.The PRC on Friday announced that 1,084 out of 1,546 passed the Physician Licensure Examination given by the Board of Medicine in Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Luc...

Former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez, who is running for mayor of Bacolod City in 2022, said on Friday, September 24, that there will be some surprises in his lineup.Benitez said he is likely to field a full slate that will include candidates for congressman, vice mayor and councilors, but withheld their names.He is considering everyone, including some from the current administration, to be part of his slate as long as they embrace the concept that he stands for, which is change for the better, Benitez said.Benitez said he will announce the members of his slate at the end of the month.The contributions of those who sit in the city council will be important to the recovery and development of the city, especially at this time, he said.Legislation will be needed fo...

The COVID-19 September deaths in Bacolod City hit 99 and 183 in Negros Occidental on Friday for a total of 282.“This brings Bacolod’s COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic to 542, the situation is very bad,” City Administrator Em Ang, who is also executive director of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said.The total COVID-19 deaths in Negros Occidental since the start of the pandemic has hit 785.Bacolod City had 1,835 active COVID-19 cases and Negros Occidental had 3,418 on Friday.The COVID-19 in Bacolod City now is more dangerous and is spreading much faster, Ang said.It is the new norm now for all of the members in a household to be hit by the virus, she said.Ang called on Bacolod hotels and establishments not to allow the holding of large gathering...

CAAP photoNegros Occidental and Bacolod City that are faced with a COVID-19 surge received 108,500 doses of vaccines to fight the virus on Friday, September 24.Negros Occidental received 62,250 doses and Bacolod City - 46,250 doses.Among the vaccines received by Negros Occidental were AstraZeneca - 4,700 doses,Sinovac - 40,000 doses and Pfizer - 17,550 doses, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The vaccines received by Bacolod City were AstraZeneca - 30,600 doses, Sinovac - 9,800 doses and Pfizer - 5,850 doses, City Administrator Em Ang said.She said the AstraZeneca vaccines were among those purchased by the Bacolod City government.The Bacolod City government had vaccinated 192,774 Bacolod residents as of Thursday, September 23.Of the number, 133,458 ar...

The Cor Illumina group with Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH chief*Dr. Juan Agustin Coruña IV, Cor Illumina editor-in-chief*Dr. Ma. Luz Vicenta Elvira Guanzon, Research Committee chair*The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City is virtually launching Cor Illumina, the first peer-reviewed medical journal in Negros Island on Monday, September 27, Dr. Juan Agustin D. Coruña, its editor-in-chief, said Friday.“This confirms the capabilities of CLMMRH as a premiere government health facility…with solid infrastructure in place, a consistent patient census, and robust pool of highly skilled allied health workers,” he said.“Despite a host of delays brought about by the pandemic, the hospital makes an indelible mark with a firm footing on research and at...