Carla P. Gomez

The COVID-19 Delta variant has infected a baby and a 45-year-old man, bringing the number of Bacolod City residents hit by the highly contagious strain to six, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday, August 23.The two new Delta variant-hit Bacolod residents are a 6-month-old boy from Barangay Bata and a 45-year-old male from Barangay Villamonte, City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the Emergency Operations Center, said.The two had completed their 14-day quarantines and had been declared recovered, Ang said.However, their homes have been locked down in compliance with a DOH requirement, she said.They will be swabbed for COVID-19 tests again along with members of their households and if their results are negative their lockdowns will be lifted, she said.Th...

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo at a press conference in Bacolod City Monday, August 23.*There are 12 mayors in Negros Occidental who want Davao Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio to run for president in 2022, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Monday, August 23.“I didn’t hear them say they committed, what I heard from them is ‘we want Sara to run because we want a Duterte to be the president, we want continuity,’” Panelo said.Panelo, who was in Bacolod City, said he has been travelling around the country because he has a special task from the president to know the concerns of local governments and to act on them.He is seriously studying the probability of running for senator in 2022 and has been endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte, Panelo also ...

CAAP Bacolod photoMore Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines are expected to arrive in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City Tuesday, August 24, to boost the drive against COVID-19, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Negros Occidental has been allowed to vaccinate A4 economic frontliners with national government provided vaccines. Earlier the provincial government had been vaccinating economic frontliners with the AstraZeneca vaccines it purchased.“If we open to A4 we are practically opening to all already. These are our sectors that go to work. It’s good that officially we can start doing it,” the governor said.Lacson said he just hopes the national government starts distributing more vaccines to the provinces, considering that in the Nati...

Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, UNegA secretary general.*Mayors belonging to the United Negros Alliance (UNegA) have started submitting their lineups for the 2022 polls so they can be issued their Certificates of Nomination and Acceptance (CONA) by the local political party.Four city mayors and nine town mayors in Negros Occidental belong to UNegA, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, its secretary general, said Monday, August 23.The filing of Certificates of Candidacy for the May 2022 polls is set in October.Escalante said hopefully by the weekend, he will have signed the CONAs of all of the UNegA candidates in Negros Occidental.The CONAs of candidates from three cities have already been issued, he added.Sagay City is fielding Vice Mayor Narciso Javelosa Jr. as mayor an...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will deliver his annual State of the Province Address (SOPA) virtually through the official Facebook page of the provincial government of Negros Occidental at 2 p.m. Wednesday, August 25.Among the highlights of the SOPA will be the efforts made by the provincial government in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, Lacson said Monday, August 23.Lacson said he will also present the accomplishments made by the Capitol departments and offices.He said credit will be given to them for their accomplishments and for doing their share in good governance despite the pandemic.*

3ID photoThe former managing editor of the Philippine Collegian, the student publication of the University of the Philippines, killed in a clash between the 79th Infantry “Masaligan” Battalion and the New People’s Army in Silay City, Negros Occidental, was the leader of the NPA Northern Negros Front, an Army official said Sunday, August 22.Killed was Kerima Lorena Tariman-Acosta, alias Ella and Em-em, 42, from Legazpi City, Albay, and a certain "Pabling" whose full identity is yet to be determined, Maj. Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said.“Kerima is the secretary or leader of the Northern Negros Front who came to Negros with the mindset of reviving the influence of the said front after having been categorized by no less than thei...

Comrades of Kerima Lorena Tariman Acosta described her as a revolutionary artist.*Kerima Lorena Tariman Acosta, 42, a New People’s Army leader slain in an encounter with government soldiers in Silay City, Negros Occidental, was an editor and poet, her father Pablo Tariman said Saturday, August 21.She was also described by her comrades as a revolutionary artist.“I am proud of my daughter. She was consistent all the way. I like the way she lived her life. In poetry and commitment. I was ready for this death years back. When it happened, it was not surprising. I am proud of her,” he told DIGICAST NEGROS.Acosta was managing editor of the Philippine Collegian, the student publication of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, when a couple of years before grad...

Photo from Israel Salanga FBThere have been 348 Negros Occidental and Bacolod City overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been repatriated from Afghanistan so far, Bacolod Councilor Israel Salanga said Sunday, August 22.Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) data shows that out of the 624 residents of Western Visayas who have been repatriated from Afghanistan, 276 are from Negros Occidental and 72 from Bacolod City, Salanga, Bacolod Action Team on Returning OFWs (ATRO) chairman, said.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, two weeks before the U.S. troops withdrew from the country.The repatriation efforts were facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Salanga said.OWWA’s intervention includes livelihood assistance to the returning OFWs, he was inform...