Carla P. Gomez

The Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH WV CHD) acknowledges the various concerns raised by some health care workers relative to their Special Risk Allowance (SRA) and is acting on them, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 regional director, said Monday, August 16.The grant of the COVID-19 SRA is stipulated in the Joint Circular No. 2 series of 2020 of the DOH and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). It covers both public and private health workers who are directly catering to or are in contact with COVID-19 patients, Suba-an said in a press release.The grant of SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month that they are physically on duty is in recognition of the health workers’ heroic and invaluable contributions by being at the forefront of the national...

Former Negros Occidental board member Victor Puey on Monday, August 16, called on the sugar planters to think of the country and not just the sugar industry when choosing their presidential bet for the 2022 polls.Puey said while Tatak Kalamay says it will support a presidential bet with a proven track record of supporting the sugar industry, they did not support two candidates who helped the sugar industry in the last election.He cited former senators Mar Roxas and Sergio Osmeña III.Meanwhile, the United Sugar Producers Federation on August 11 issued a manifesto of support to the calls for Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to seriously consider vying for the presidency in the May 2022 polls.*

City PIO photoMayor Evelio Leonardia has issued Executive Order No. 44, Series of 2021, extending the General Community Quarantine with Heightened Restrictions (GCQ-HR) in Bacolod City until August 31 amid a stepped up vaccination drive to ward off the spread of COVID-19, especially its highly contagious Delta variant.Bacolod will be under GCQ-HR until August 31 unless further modified by the national Inter-Agency Task Force to either a more stringent category, or downgraded, or lifted as warranted by circumstances, Leonardia said in the EO he signed Saturday, August 14.Curfew hours will remain from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., leisure travel between Panay and Bacolod and mass gatherings are prohibited, wakes and religious gatherings are limited to 10 percent of venue capacity, dine-in ...

The Commission on Elections in Bacolod City will be closed starting Monday, August 16, until August 23, after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19, Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña said Sunday.Thirteen Bacolod COMELEC employees and three local government unit paid casuals were swabbed Sunday for RT-PCR tests, Caña told DIGICAST NEGROS.COMELEC Bacolod cancelled its satellite registrations Friday and Saturday, August 13 and 14, after one of its employees manifested COVID-19 symptoms.The test results of the employee turned out positive for COVID-19, Caña added.The employee, who had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, had manifested COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever, coughing, body pains and vomiting, she said.The Bacolod COMELEC has 15 other employees...

Two Bacolod residents were sentenced to life imprisonment Friday, August 13, for the sale of illegal drugs to policemen.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 separately sentenced Giovanni Hino-o Baylosis, alias Bani, and Gabriel Lorenzo Libo-on to life imprisonment for the sale of shabu and ordered them to each pay fines of P500,000.They were also found guilty of illegal possession of shabu and sentenced to each suffer the prison term of 12 years and eight months as minimum , to 17 years and 8 months as maximum, and to pay fines of P300,000.Baylosis was charged for the sale of .043 gram of shabu to a policeman in exchange for P200 in marked money at Purok Mainuswagon, Barangay 30, Bacolod City, on March 10, 2020.On his arrest, ....

Firefighters battle to put out the blaze at Purok San Jose in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City Sunday, August 15.*Amity photoTen houses were destroyed and two others were damaged in a fire that hit Purok San Jose in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, Sunday morning, August 15, Barangay Captain Deogracias dela Vega said.The fire started from the second floor of the house of Marilyn Encarquez, Chief Inspector Rodel Legaspi, Bacolod City Fire Marshal, said.He said the firefighters had a hard time putting out the blaze because of the narrow passageway. The fire started at about 11:47 a.m. and was put out at 12:28 p.m., he said.The houses were built close to each other and were made of concrete and light materials, he said.Dela Vega delivered food packs to the 30 individuals affect...

A pregnant woman and a 71-year-old man have tested positive for the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant in barangays Banago and Sum-ag, Bacolod City, and their homes have been placed under surgical lockdowns, Mayor Evelio Leonardia announced Friday, August 13.“This is not a time to panic, this is a time to be much more careful by complying with the basic health protocols”, he said.“The Delta variant is already in Bacolod, we should be alarmed but there is no reason to panic”, Dr. Edwin Miraflor, Bacolod City Health Officer, also said.The two Delta variant-hit Bacolodnons tested positive for COVID-19 on July 15 and 19,, and had been released from isolation because they had already completed their 14-day quarantine, Em Ang, City Administrator and executive director of the Ba...

Nine persons found positive for the Delta variant and one for the Beta variant by the Philippine Genome Center are not from Negros Occidental, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Friday, August 13.The Negros Occidental provincial government on Thursday, August 12, received a report from the Philippine Genome Center that four residents of Kabakalan City, two each from Silay City and Cauayan, and one from Cadiz City in Negros Occidental had tested positive for the Delta variant.It also said one Cadiz City resident tested positive for the Beta variant.However, the same report said they were tested for COVID-19 at the Lung Center of the Philippines and their actual addresses were in Quezon City, Samar, Rizal and Bulacan.The Provincial Health Office has issued an offici...