Carla P. Gomez

Himamaylan PNP photoThe Mount Cansermon Command–New People’s Army South Central Negros (MCC-NPA) on Tuesday, September 14, owned the burning of a backhoe at Sitio Bulod, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, to remind the ruling class not to engage in destructive and harmful economic activities.”The backhoe, estimated to cost P3.5 million, and owned by ESJ and Sons Construction Co., was burned by armed men on Saturday, September 11, PLt. Arturo Margallo, Himamaylan deputy police chief, said Monday.“What the elite calls ‘development projects’ are detrimental to the poor peasants and the ancestral domain of the Indigenous Peoples, particularly in the mountain ranges and forest lands of Cambantog, Trukat, Tahod Ilajas and Cansermon in the boundary areas of Binal...

Members of the United Negros Alliance (UNega) will hold a virtual meeting on Saturday, September 18, Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer said Tuesday.With the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the province, they decided against holding a face-to-face general assembly, Ferrer, UNegA president, said.In the past, UNegA used to hold a general assembly before the filing of certificates of candidacy (CoCs), he said.However, they will be able to communicate via Zoom, he added.The filing of COCs will be from October 1 to 8Meanwhile, officials of Partido Asenso Hinoba-a led by Mayor Ernesto Estrao and Councilor Daph Anthony Reliquias said they are endorsing the reelection bids of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Ferrer.*

The police are tracking down the suspects responsible for the hazing of an 18-year-old San Enrique, Negros Occidental, resident who died on September 9, Mayor Jilson Tubillara said Monday, September 13.Tubillara said he has directed the town police to dig deeper into the case and catch the culprits as fraternity hazing must be stopped.The victim was a grade 10 high school student from Purok Mainuswagon, Barangay Guintorilan, in San Enrique.His parents reported to the police that their son died at 6 a.m. on September 9 after he was subjected to hazing by members of a fraternity.Investigation conducted revealed that the victim had applied to be a member of the Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity in San Enrique. His initiation rites were allegedly conducted in March when he was 17, but h...

Nine more Bacolod residents, four of whom are from the same household, have been hit by the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, City Administrator Em Ang, Emergency Operations Center executive director, said Monday, September 13.One of the four, who is a 57-year-old male, died.This brings to 21 the total number of Bacolod residents confirmed by the Philippine Genome Center to have been hit by the Delta variant, she said.The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday, September 12, raised Bacolod City’s COVID-19 alert level to 4. The city also remains a high risk area for COVID-19, it added.Ang said five of the new Delta cases in Bacolod are from Mandalagan, three from Villamonte and one from Alijis.Ang said a 62-year-old female, 57-year-old male who died, 6-year-old fem...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Silay Mayor Mark Golez, Rep. Francisco Benitez and Provincial Engineer Ernie Mapa (l-r) prepare to lower a time capsule at the groundbreaking of the P100 million Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City Monday morning, September 13.*Capitol photoThe groundbreaking of the P100 million Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (CEMREID) at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City was held Monday morning, September 13.The groundbreaking was led by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Rep. Francisco Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District).The center that costs P100 million is jointly funded by the provincial government of Negros Occidental and the ...

The Bacolod Commission on Elections was closed Monday, September 13, after one of its staff tested positive for COVID-19 but will resume its registration of voters on Tuesday, September 14, Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña said.Provincial Elections Supervisor Ma. Fatima Aspan has been designated acting election officer of Bacolod City in concurrent capacity, Caña said.Aspan said she and her staff will man the Bacolod Comelec office since its personnel are in quarantine pending COVID-19 testing.Registration will be from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Bacolod Comelec Office Tuesday to Thursday, and at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central on Friday, Aspan said.On Saturday, registration will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. also at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central, she added.“Since all of...

Two Negros Occidental Provincial Human Resource Management Office (PHRMO) officers have been issued show cause orders, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, September 13.Issued show cause orders are Felomina Gozon, PHRMO officer-in-charge, Daidie Lopez, officer 3, for changing the appointee approved by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and the Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board, Diaz said.Diaz said on September 2 the Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board and the governor agreed to the appointment of Ma. Robel Asuncion Lirazan to Nursing Attendant II at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.However, in the minutes of the selection board meeting submitted by Lopez and Gozon it stated that Ma. Victoria Seresola, and not Lira...

The Negros Occidental COVID-19 active cases were nearing 2,000 and its death toll rose to 69 on Monday, September 13.Negros Occidental had 1,994 active COVID-19 cases and eight new deaths on Monday, the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) reported.The province has had 24,696 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, 22,036 recoveries and 666 deaths, the PIMT added.But Negros Occidental remains a moderate risk area under alert level 3, the Department of Health said Monday.Meanwhile, an advisory from the Corazon Locsin Motelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City said it will no longer accept non-COVID cases under its Department of Pediatrics and the Pediatric Ward will be closed until further notice.It will undergo thorough disinfection to ensure th...

Himamaylan PNP photoA backhoe estimated to cost P3.5 million was torched by unidentified armed men at Sitio Bulod, in Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan City.The backhoe was burned at about 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 11, PLt. Arturo Margallo, Himamaylan deputy police chief, said.The incident was reported by a barangay tanod and the police and Army conducted an ocular inspection at the site located 25 kilometers from the town proper on Sunday, he said.The seven unidentified armed men are alleged members of the Communists terrorists’ group, he said.However, those are just allegations, they have yet to confirm if the burning was done by the Communist rebels, he said.The backhoe being used for the construction of a road was owned by ESJ and Sons Construction Co., Margal...

The creative industries bill has passed on second reading in the House of Representatives, Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District) said Monday, September 13.House Bill 10107 is co-authored and co-sponsored by Benitez, who is vice chair of the House Committee on Creative Industries.Benitez stressed the need to develop the country’s creative industries as engines to economic recovery and a source of national pride , and to enable Filipino artists, artisans and creative professionals to compete in the global digital market.In his sponsorship speech for HB 10107, Benitez stressed that "in this period of disruption due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and pandemics…. our rich cultural traditions and creative expression give meaning to our humanity, our uni...