Carla P. Gomez

The Bago City Hospital is temporarily not accepting patients until further notice*The Bago City Hospital is temporarily not accepting patients, and the COVID-19 beds at the Emergency Department of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City have hit maximum capacity.Hospital bed utilization in Bacolod City hit 86 percent as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Bacolod City Administrator Em Ang said Sunday, September 12.The Riverside Medical Center Inc., in an advisory Saturday, said due to lack of available medical personnel it will no longer be able to accept OB clinical cases, pre-term cases and pediatric critical cases.The CLMMRH, in an advisory issued Saturday, said its Emergency Department has reached its maximum capacity on its alloc...

COVID-19 deaths in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City reached 96 in the first 12 days of September.Negros Occidental has had 61 COVID-19 deaths from September 1 to 12, Provincial Incident Management Team data showed Sunday, September 12.The province also had 1,810 active COVID-19 cases Sunday and its death toll since the start of the pandemic has reached 658.Bacolod City has had 35 COVID-19 deaths from September 1 to 11, City Administrator Em Ang, Emergency Operations head, said Sunday.The city had 1,287 active COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.Negros Occidental had a total of 269 new COVID-19 cases ad Bacolod City had 228 on Saturday and Sunday, the DOH added.Bacolod’s COVID 19 cases from September 1 to 10 were 954 at an average of 8...

Negros Occidental and Bacolod City online and modular public basic education classes for school year 2021-2022 will start Monday, September 13.Negros Occidental enrollment was at 269,896 or 82 percent compared to the previous year, Provincial Schools Division Superintendent Marsette Sabbaluca said Sunday, September 12.In Bacolod City, 100,221 learners were enrolled from kindergarten to grade 12 out of the 115,084 expected enrollment or 87.09 percent compared to last year, City Schools Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Sales said.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said when online and modular learning came to fore amid the COVID-19 pandemic out of necessity last school year, the educational system had no choice but to step up regardless of the readiness, both of the learners and the schools....

Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District) said the country will be faced with a backlog of 6.57 million housing units by 2022 because of population growth, rural to urban migration and red tape.Benitez, Housing And Urban Development Committee chairman, said Sunday, September 12, that the housing crisis in the Philippines has been building up for a long time.“The government estimates that the country’s total housing needs will be at 6.57 million units in 2022,” he said.Included in the backlog are about 2 million housing units from the previous administration, Benitez added.“This has been creeping up on us for years partly because the attention that has been given to housing versus population growth has been very, very, very small,” he said.The housi...

The senior citizens' affairs office at the Talisay City public plaza will be temporarily closed starting Monday, September 13, after one employee tested positive for COVID-19, Mayor Neil Lizares said Sunday.One employee tested positive so the rest of the staff will be swabbed for RT-PCR tests on Monday, he said.The temporary closure will be until further notice to give way to thorough disinfection of the office and contact tracing, the mayor said.Talisay has 129 active COVID-19 cases, the city government reported Sunday.The city has had 1,740 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic last year, 1,556 recoveries and 55 deaths, the report added.*

Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz, coach Julius Naranjo, Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz, Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella and Provincial Consultant Rafael Coscolluela (l-r) at the provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, Friday, September 10.*Richard Malihan photoWeightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, the country’s first ever Olympic gold medalist, called on the Filipino people to vote wisely in the 2022 polls.Diaz, who was conferred the title of adopted daughter of Negros Occidental at rites at the Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City on Friday, September 10, said while she cannot endorse candidates because she is with the military, she is urging Filipinos to choose candidates based on their values.“We should choose candidates based on the values they u...

Julius Naranjo and Hidilyn Diaz at the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City Friday.*Richard Malihan photoJulius Irvin Naranjo, coach and boyfriend of Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz, sees their relationship lasting a lifetime.Naranjo, who was with Diaz in Bacolod City on Friday, September 10, said “yes” when asked at a press conference if he sees them being together forever.When asked when they plan to get married, Diaz said “In God’s perfect time.”Naranjo, who is a Filipino-American weightlifter from Guam, said balancing his being coach of Diaz and their love life “takes a lot of sacrifices and a lot of communication.”“It’s not easy, but if you have something like bringing pride to the country as a goal then you are willing to do whatever it takes, to sacrific...

More than 57,000 doses of Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines to curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Negros Occidental are arriving on Saturday, September 11.Arriving for Negros Occidental via Cebu Pacific are 50,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines and 1,170 Pfizer vials that are equivalent to 7,020 doses, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.There have been 1,210 new COVID-19 cases and 43 deaths in Negros Occidental from September 1 to 10, Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) data showed Friday.Meanwhile, there were 163 new COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and three deaths, and 108 new cases in Bacolod City and two deaths, the Department of Health reported on Friday.Negros Occidental had 1,939 active cases and Bacolod City had 1,158, the DOH added....

Photo from Kiko Benitez FBRep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District) is pushing for the passage of the Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) in Congress that will ensure that benefits due them are contained in a law.He authored House Bill No. 44 that was consolidated with 36 similar bills and approved by the Committee on Local Government, Benitez said Friday, September 10.The substitute bill provides BHWs with P3,000 minimum monthly honorarium, P1,000 minimum monthly hazard pay, P1,000 minimum monthly transportation allowance and P100 daily subsistence allowance for those in remote areas, he said.It also provides a P10,000 retirement incentive after 15 years of service, P5,000 maximum medical assistance for emergency conditions, and a 10 percen...

Capitol file photoLeaders in two cities and two towns in northern Negros Occidental endorsed the reelection bids of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer on Friday, September 10.Lacson of Love Negros and Ferrer of United Negros Alliance (UNegA) were endorsed at a meeting in San Carlos City.They also endorsed the reelection bids of Rep. Gerardo Valmayor and board members Rommel Debulgado and Araceli Somosa, San Carlos Mayor Renato Gustilo said.Present at the meeting were officials of San Carlos and Escalante cities and Salvador Benedicto and Calatrava towns in the first district who are part of the Love-Negros-UNegA coalition, he said.This means both groups will support the same candidates in the two cities and two towns, Gustilo said.Leaders of ...