Carla P. Gomez

The oppositors Teordoro Abao, Jonah Abao and Hector Yula (l-r)*A petition seeking the exclusion of former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo "Albee" Benitez from the list of registered voters of Bacolod City has been filed by three Grupo Progreso allies before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities.“They don’t want me to reach the elections, they want to rob the people’s right to choose their leader,” Benitez said.Benitez has announced that he is running for mayor of Bacolod in 2022 against incumbent Evelio Leonardia of Grupo Progreso.The petition was filed against Benitez and the Bacolod Election Registration Board (ERB) composed of Bacolod Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña, City Civil Registrar Hermilo Pa-oyon and Schools Superintendent Gladys Amelaine Sales.Petitioners Hector...

Contributed photoA third Negros Occidental mayor has tested positive for COVID-19 in four days.Silay City Mayor Mark Golez on Wednesday night, September 22, announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19.Earlier, Kabankalan City Mayor Pedro Zayco and Talisay City Mayor Neil Lizares also tested positive for COVID-19.All three had attended a Love Negos political gathering with other Negros Occidental officials at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City on Saturday, September 18.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, former Rep. Alfredo Benitez, board members Ryan Gamboa and Jeffrey Tubola , and mayors Marvin Malacon of EB Magalona, and Francis Palanca of Victorias who also attended the Love Negros gathering tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, September 23.Golez, in a st...

Negros Occidental is weathering a strong storm as COVID-19 cases and deaths keep piling up, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Thursday, September 23, said.The province had 13 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday bringing the total fatalities for September up to 174, he said.There were also 239 new COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental on Thursday, for a total of 3,226 active cases.Most of the fatalities were suffering from other ailments making them vulnerable to COVID-19, he said.The Negros Occidental COVID-19 designated centers' occupancy rates were at 102 percent at the Valladolid District Hospital, 92 percent at the Cadiz District Hospital and 17 percent at the Valeriano M. Gatuslao Memorial District Hospital in Himamaylan City on Thursday, Diaz said.The occupan...

Two more mayors in Negros Occidental have ordered the imposition of more stringent measures against the spread of COVID-19, while two city halls will be locked down Friday, September 24, for thorough disinfection against the virus.Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. on Thursday, September 23, issued an executive order temporarily restricting events and celebrations that attract mass gatherings in Cadiz City with the increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitals reaching full capacity.Birthdays or debut celebrations, wedding anniversaries, death anniversaries and other analogous events that may cause mass gatherings will temporarily be prohibited until further notice, the mayor said.Weddings, baptismal, necrological and burial services must also be limited to members of the immediate family...

The enrollment in Bacolod City public schools has hit 102.3 percent for school year 2021 to 2022, Bacolod Schools Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Dechavez Sales said Thursday, September 23.The enrolment from kindergarten to grade 12 was at 117,710 on Thursday against 115,084 last school year, she said.“The enrollment increased by 2.3 percent. We exceeded the target,” she said.The total enrollment in private schools was 28,647 Thursday against 33,965 last school year, or 84.34 percent, Sales added.Learners from private schools transferred to public schools where education is free, she said.Negros Occidental Schools Division enrollment Thursday was 92 percent of the previous enrollment, or about 353,000 learners, Ian Arnold Arnaez, DepEd project development officer, said. ...

The meeting of the PDP-Laban Cusi faction in Negros Occidental Friday, September 24, has again been postponed after the COVID-19 pandemic affected recent gatherings of local and national political parties in the province, former Bacolod Rep. John Orola said Thursday.A meeting initially set on September 4 had also been postponed.Orola, convenor of the PDP-Laban Cusi faction for Negros Occidental and Bacolod, said he suggested to Cusi to postpone the meeting until next week and possibly hold it via Zoom as a COVID-19 precaution.The date of the PDP-Laban Cusi faction meeting for Bacolod and Negros will be announced later, he said.The meeting will definitely be held prior to the start of the filing of certificates of candidacy in October, as new members will be taking their oat...

The September COVID deaths in Negros Occidental*The COVID-19 deaths in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City have hit a record high of 247 in September, with eight days more before the month ends, officials said Wednesday, September 22.There have been 161 COVID deaths in Negros Occidental from September 1 to 22, a report furnished by Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz showed.That is the highest since the pandemic started, he said.Negros Occidental also had 325 new COVID-19 cases, 196 recoveries and five deaths, on Wednesday.The highest numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental were in Cadiz City with 31, Kabankalan City – 28, La Castellana – 26, Bago City -25 and La Carlota City – 23.IN BACOLODThere have also been 86 COVID-19 deaths in Bacolod City i...

Twenty residents of a compound in Purok Paho, Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod City, have tested positive of COVID-19, Barangay Captain Yolanda Noble said Wednesday, September 22.There are 14 apartments in the compound with 32 occupants, she said.A 21-year-old male resident of one of the apartments in the compound was swabbed for a COVID-19 test that was required for his return to work and he tested positive Friday, Noble said.The 31 other residents of the compound were then tested on Saturday and 19 were found positive for COVID-19, she added.All 20 are asymptomatic and most of them have been fully vaccinated, Noble said.The 20 have been facility quarantined, while the 12 others who tested negative are under home quarantine, Noble said.The compound has been sealed off, ...

The Provincial Health Office summary of COVID-19 variants detected in Negros Occidental as of September 21.*Forty-seven Negrenses have been hit with various COVID-19 variants, the latest of whom is a 36-year-old Talisay City resident who returned from Saudi Arabia, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Wednesday, September 22.The Talisay resident recovered from COVID-19, was released from a quarantine facility in Manila on August 28 and returned to Negros Occidental on August 29, Diaz said.However, the Philippine Genome Center report that she was hit with the Delta variant was only released on Tuesday, September 21, he added.There have been five variants detected in Negros Occidental as of September 21, a Provincial Health Office report shows.The Delta variant ha...

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is calling on the Department of Trade and Industry to strictly monitor and regulate the sale of medical grade oxygen in Bacolod City amid a shortage of supply with the rise in COVID-19 cases, Councilor Renecito Novero said Wednesday, September 22.Novero said the request was contained in a resolution unanimously moved and approved by the members of the SP at their regular session Wednesday.He lamented the existence of opportunists taking advantage of the situation at the expense of people’s lives.The DTI help was sought because of reports of hoarding, indiscriminate purchases and lack of supply of medical grade oxygen in hospitals, which were brought to his attention by City Administrator Em Ang, Novero said.Ang said they have received repo...