Carla P. Gomez

Improvements are being made at the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City as the transfer of the provincial government offices to Talisay City may take several years yet, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Thursday, August 12.Diaz inspected Thursday the third comfort room at the Capitol that underwent renovation.He said the airconditioned comfort rooms were improved at no expense to the province, he and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson financed the work done.The improvements were made for the comfort of the Capitol employee and guests, he said.He said the transfer of the Capitol offices to Talisay City where a new Provincial Administration Center will be built could take two to three years yet, depending on the COVID-19 situation.COVID-19 has slowed construction wo...

City PIO photoThe Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has suspended the shortened quarantine period for fully vaccinated close contacts of probable or confirmed COVID-19 cases, it announced Wednesday, August 11.This means from a shortened seven-day quarantine period, fully vaccinated individuals that have been in close contact with probable or confirmed COVID-19 cases will be quarantined for 14 days, it said.If the fully vaccinated individuals remain asymptomatic after 14 days, their quarantine will end, the IATF-EID said.If they manifest COVID-19 symptoms or test positive they will be brought to an isolation or treatment facility, it added.Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrado Diaz said the provincial gove...

Retired Negros Occidental Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino can still avail of his retirement benefits from the Government Service Insurance System even if the provincial government is pursuing charges against him, Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr. said Wednesday, August 11.The PLO served formal charges for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, falsification of an official document and gross neglect against Masculino on Tuesday, Nellas said.The charges stem from the unpaid catering services for Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) trainers training activities in 2018 totaling about P1 million.Nellas said no money was dispersed by the provincial government,but there were discrepancies in the documentation.Masculino said he is in a period of discernm...

NellasThe Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees (PACE) thanked the Negros Occidental provincial government under Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Wednesday, August 11, for filing charges against the Human Resource Management Office head and for her 60-day preventive suspension.PACE is thankful to the provincial government for acting on the complaints of the employees against Anabelle Palic, its statement said.“The pro-worker gesture of the provincial government will always be a landmark in the heart of every worker in the defense of their rights and benefits,” the PACE statement said.Palic had been formally charged for oppression, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave misconduct and for being notoriously undesirable based on prima facie evidence, Pro...

The country’s 6.3 million deactivated voters will soon be able to apply for reactivation online, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections said Wednesday, August 11.Reactivation of voters who failed to vote in two consecutive elections will be allowed through email, she said.“This month 6.3 million voters were deactivated but their biometrics are still in the database of the Commission on Elections, hence they need not apply for reactivation in person,” she said.This will benefit a least one million senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and those who are unable to go to the Comelec offices because they have work, she said.The COMELEC will issue the guidelines for the online reactivation of the voters’ registration soon, Guanzon said.The identit...

Former Bacolod Rep. John Orola said Wednesday, August 11, that he was surprised by rumors circulating that he will run for governor of Negros Occidental in 2022.Orola said he has no plans to run for governor, he is just helping Bacolod in its trade, tourism and investment programs as consultant of the city government.As a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines one of their plans is to go around Negros Occidental to inform people about employment and investment opportunities, he said.That is because in September there will be China and Dubai trade fairs that Bacolod is invited to join, so he is preparing for that, he said.Orola said he has not said he will run for governor. “Politics is over for me, but whatever is the decision of the people, on where I should run, ...

The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) has issued a manifesto of support to the mounting calls for Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to seriously consider vying for the presidency in the May 2022 polls.UNIFED, in its manifesto issued Wednesday, August 11, said it believes that Duterte-Carpio possess the qualities that a leader must have to unify the country, especially in these challenging times, and at the same time, continue and improve on the gains made as a nation.“Mayor Sara has shown her mettle in governance, even outside of Davao. We have seen her courage and we are certain that she has the political will to effect change that will benefit our government and the people,” UNIFED said.Duterte-Carpio has embraced advocacies that gained her admiration from various...

The Negros Occidental provincial government’s human resource management officer (HRMO) has been formally charged and preventively suspended for 60 days, Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr. said Tuesday, August 10.Anabelle Palic has been charged for oppression, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave misconduct and for being notoriously undesirable based on prima facie evidence, Nellas said.The formal charge, order for preventive suspension and investigation report were served to Palic Tuesday afternoon, he said.Palic can opt for a formal investigation hearing or submit her position paper, he said.This stems from a complaint by the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees wherein 57 job order workers at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia, one utili...

Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante is studying whether they should also take legal action against a 19-year-old student who entered Negros Occidental with a fake negative RT-PCR test result and S-PaSS.The student who is from Cadiz City had obtained a barangay certification that she was a resident of Barangay Alicante, EB Magalona, in order to return to the province.Her application to return to Cadiz City had been rejected because they detected that her RT-PCR test result was fake and she was not issued an S-PaSS, the mayor said.The 19-year-old was advised to have a test again but instead got a barangay certificate in EB Magalona to return to Cadiz, Escalante said.When they learned that she had arrived in Cadiz City she was picked up by the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force te...

PIMT photo“The demand for COVID-19 vaccines in Negros Occidental is greater than the supply”, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, August 10.“It is frustrating for the LGUs (local government units) that the supply is coming in by trickles, we are hoping that the Department of Health sees our high performance rate in terms of vaccine rollout,” he said.Negros Occidental received 10,000 doses of Sinovac ad 10,700 doses of Moderna vaccines on Tuesday that will be rolled out right away, he said.Prior to the new delivery Negros Occidental only had a few AstraZeneca vaccines, 50 doses of Johnson & Johnson and about 1,000 doses of Sinovac jabs left, he said.The provincial government has fully vaccinated 154,539 Negrenses that is more than 10 percent of its ...