Carla P. Gomez

Sep222021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

VICMICO PAI still faces blank wall as VMC stays mum on 3 key issues

The VICMICO Planters' Association Inc. continues to face a blank wall as the management of Victorias Milling Co. remains mum on three key issues raised by one of the major planters' groups in Negros Occidental since July this year.Aurelio Valderrama Jr., president of the 1,500-strong VICMICO PAI, reiterated in a press release Tuesday, September 21, that the mill management has yet to respond to the issue on the 0.50 percent it owed the association representing its share on sugar and molasses for weekending Sept. 9 to Dec. 2, 2018 that was computed at P2,073,068.The other concerns that Valderrama's group had asked the mill management to address were the price difference of 0.30 percent as its share on sugar and molasses for the weekending Dec. 9, 2018 to May19, 2019 and the whole of...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Zayco tests positive for Covid, Love Negros officials self-isolate; Kabankalan mayor’s office locked down

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Negros Occidental officials with Kabankalan Mayor Pedro Zayco (right), who tested positive for COVID-19, at the Love Negros meeting at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Saturday, September 18.*About 32 Negros Occidental officials went on self-isolation starting Monday, September 20, after Kabankalan Mayor Pedro Zayco tested positive for COVID-19.Thirty-three officials, including Zayco, joined a Love Negos political gathering led by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City on Saturday, September 18.Zayco said on Sunday his throat was itchy and he had a slight fever so he had himself tested for COVID-19 and the RT-PCR results on Monday morning showed that he was positive for the virus.He is isolating ...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Negros Occidental joins Bacolod under highest Covid alert

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The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas placed Negros Occidental under the highest alert level for COVID-19 for the first time on Monday, September 20.Negros Occidental is now under COVID-19 Alert Level 4 along with Bacolod City, Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, DOH 6 medical coordinator for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, said in a virtual press conference.Alert Level 4 means case counts are high or increasing and health care capacity is at high utilization, she said.But Negros Occidental’s risk classification remained at moderate, she added.Negros Occidental’s COVID-19 positivity rate from August 19 to September 1 was at 2.92 percent, and rose to 5.85 percent from September 2 to 15, Te said.The province had 2,952 active COVID-19 cases on Monday and five ne...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Negros Occidental has eight new Delta variant cases, 1 dies

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Negros Occidental has eight new Delta variant cases, one of whom was an unvaccinated Escalante City resident who died, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said Monday, September 20.The eight new cases bring to 19 the total number of Delta variant cases detected in Negros Occidental.All eight were hit with COVID-19 in August and their whole genome sequencing results that detected the Delta variant were released on Sunday, September 19.Of the eight Delta cases detected by the Philippine Genome Center, there are two each in San Carlos City, Escalante City and Kabankalan City, and one each in Manapla and Sagay Cty, a Provincial Health Office (PHO) report shows.Initial PHO findings show that three were unvaccinated and four recovered, while the status of the rest ar...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

New acting Bacolod Comelec head named

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The Commission on Elections has designated a new acting election officer for Bacolod City.Comelec 6 Regional Director Wilfred Jay Balisado in a memorandum issued Monday, September 20, designated Sipalay City Election Officer Adrian Arellano acting Bacolod election officer effective Tuesday, September 21.Arelano will remain at the Bacolod post until September 25 or until the return of Kathrina Trinio Caña as election officer of Bacolod City, Balisado said.The designation of Negros Occidental Provincial Election Supervisor Ma. Fatima Aspan as concurrent election officer of Bacolod was recalled.Mayor Evelio Leonardia on Sunday, September 19, called on Aspan to inhibit herself from serving as acting Bacolod poll officer.Aspan, who was designated acting Bacolod election offi...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Stop importation of molasses or P5.8B will be lost: PASON

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A sugar planters group is calling on Agriculture Secretary William Dar to stop the country's importation of molasses or put a cap on it to the volume needed only if there is a shortage.Planters’ Association of Southern Negros (PASON) president, Jesus Adrian Campos Jr., in a letter to Dar, said the continued importation of molasses allowed by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has resulted in the sharp decrease of the prices of molasses, from a high of P14,000 per ton to P9,000 per ton in Crop Year 2020-21, a big drop of P5,000 per ton.“If this policy of SRA will continue, the sugar producers, both millers and farmers, will stand to lose P5.8 billion for crop year 2021-2022, assuming that the sugar industry will produce the same volume of 1,161,240 tons that it produced last ...

Sep212021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Majority of Bacolod Covid deaths, admissions unvaccinated: EOC

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The majority of fatalities and hospital admitted patients for COVID-19 in Bacolod City are unvaccinated against the virus, Emergency Operations Center data showed Monday, September 20.There have been 73 Bacolod residents hit with COVID-19 who died from September 1 to 19, and 62 of them were unvaccinated, the EOC reported.The EOC also reported that as of September 19 there were 141 residents admitted in seven hospitals in Bacolod City.Of the number, 97 are unvaccinated, 32 are fully vaccinated, while 12 are partially vaccinated, it said.The 97 figure is so far the highest number of hospital admissions of unvaccinated Bacolod residents, the EOC added.*

Sep202021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Mayor wants Aspan to inhibit; I’m just doing job, she says

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Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Sunday, September 19, that he is alarmed over the unusual influx of transferee-registrants from out-of-town areas at the Bacolod Commission on Elections office, and called on lawyer Ma. Fatima Aspan to inhibit herself from assuming as acting city poll officer to preserve the integrity of the ongoing voter registration process.Aspan said she received the letter of Leonardia calling for her inhibition on Saturday and forwarded it to the Comelec regional director.“I am just doing my job as ordered by the Commission on Elections,” she said.The allegations hurled against her are all rumors and hearsay, she said.Aspan, who is Negros Occidental provincial election supervisor, was designated as acting Bacolod election officer starting September 14 by ...

Sep202021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Sealing off of house fake, investigation on, Ang says

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Bacolod City Administrator Em Ang said on Sunday, September 19, that authorities are investigating the fake sealing off of a house at City Heights Subdivision with yellow caution tape for purportedly having a COVID-19 positive resident.Ang said she was informed by Councilor Lady Gles Pallen on Friday that the distressed family called to ask why their house was sealed off when no member had tested positive for COVID-19.The family was then informed that none of the residents of their home was on the COVID-19 line list, and it was not the barangay that sealed off the house, Ang added.Ang said she advised Pallen to seek the police and National Bureau of Investigation to help catch the culprits, and to see if CCTV cameras in the area captured the incident.The letter given to the...

Sep202021 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Bishop of San Carlos COVID positive again

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CBCP file photoSan Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza has tested positive for COVID-19 again, Rev. Fr. Marjun Almario, Diocese of San Carlos chancellor, announced Sunday, September 19.He is asymptomatic and is required to isolate himself for the time being, Almario said.“We encourage those persons whom he may have interacted with these past few days to observe home quarantine and cooperate with the authorities for proper health protocols,” Almario said.He also asked for everyone's prayers for the bishop’s fast healing as well as for other COVID-19 patients.“Let us continue as well to pray for those in the frontlines who are constantly taking risks to care for us,” Almario said.*