Carla P. Gomez

The police will act on complaints of the unabated movement of vehicles during curfew hours in Bacolod City, Col. Manuel Placido, Bacolod police director, said Tuesday, July 20.Bacolod City’s curfew is from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. under General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions.However, there have been complaints of vehicles still moving and people walking on streets in Bacolod during curfew hours.There are also reports of speeding vehicles along the highway in the northern side of Bacolod.Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said he would bring the concern to Placido.Placido said Bacolod policemen and the Negros Highway Patrol Group will be alerted on the matter.Negros Occidental’s curfew is from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.*

Bacolod PIO photoBacolod City and Negros Occidental held Pfizer vaccination drives on Tuesday, July 20.The Negros Occidental provincial government administered second dose Pfizer jabs at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City and the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran also oversaw the vaccine rollout at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) Tuesday, a press release from the Bacolod Public Information Office said.The vaccine rollout was held simultaneously at the BCGC Lobby and the MassKara Hall.Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., OIC of the City Health Office, said availing of the Pfizer vaccines at the BCGC were Overseas Filipino Workers under priority grou...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he has not joined the call of some governors for President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in the 2022 elections.This is because he does not know if Duterte can be president again and that is an issue he wants resolved first, Lacson said Monday, July 19.If Duterte is the vice president and the position of president becomes vacant can he assume the post? Lacson asked.“I think that should be resolved first before we can even endorse him to be the vice president,” Lacson said.Lacson, who is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said theNPC has not named its presidential and vice presidential bets for 2022, yet.At least 24 provincial governors have supported the resolution issued by the ruling Partido ng De...

Inflation, low wages and unemployment are the top economic concerns of labor, Wennie Sancho, General Alliance of Workers Associations secretary general, said Tuesday, July 20.“Amid the pandemic, the economic situation of the majority of workers in the country has become worse and miserable,” Sancho said in a press release, ahead of the State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte next week.He said hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers stranded because of the COVID-19 pandemic have joined the country’s massive army of unemployed.The latest Pulse Asia Survey shows that as of April 2021, the country’s unemployment rate nationwide was at 8.7 percent that would translate to about 4.4 million unemployed individuals, Sancho said.Hunger and poverty is on the rise as the...

Imam Abulkhair Carcauga*The Muslim community in Bacolod City that marked Eid al-Adha or the Festival of the Sacrifice on Tuesday, July 20, prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, Imam Abulkhair Carcauga said.Carcauga, overall Imam of Muslim communities in Bacolod, said they wore face masks and observed social distancing during their prayers in compliance with the government prescribed health protocols.They also did not hold their traditional games as a deterrent against COVID-19, he said.He stressed the need for sacrifice amid the pandemic, and the need to trust in God.Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated as a regular holiday, honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God's command.

Former Rep. Alfredo “Albee”Benitez announces that he is running for mayor of Bacolod at a press conference on Monday.*CPG photoBillionaire businessman Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez officially announced that he is running for mayor of Bacolod City in 2022 at a press conference on Monday, July 19.“I have seen enough, I have heard enough. The clamor of the people is undeniable and this is why I’m officially announcing that I am running for mayor of Bacolod in 2022,” Benitez said Monday, July 19.“Bacolod City is drowning in corruption, lack of good governance, lack of direction so I cannot deny the clamor of the people,” he said.Bacolod City has been lagging behind in development compared to its neighbors, he also said.Benitez said he is running for mayor to address corr...

Lawyers Allan Dueñas, Jesi Lanete and Marcus Vaflor (l-r) at the press conference Monday, July 19.* Andy Alvarez photoThe oppositors Teordoro Abao, Jonah Abao and Hector Yula (l-r)*Albee and Nikki Benitez in front of their house at Mountain View Subdivision being questioned by the oppositors.*They believe former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez will be denied his bid to vote in Bacolod because they have evidence to prove he is not a resident of the city, a battery of lawyers hired by Grupo Progreso leaders said Monday, July 19.Lawyers Marcus Vaflor of Bacolod, and Jesi Lanete and Allan Dueñas of Manila at a press conference said they had submitted enough evidence to the Election Registration Board (ERB) to prove that Benitez is not a resident of Mountain View Subdivisi...

If the situation calls for it Negros Occidental may again require COVID-19 negative RT-PCR test results for incoming fully vaccinated travelers, and even from those coming from Panay, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Monday, July 19.“We want to know what the real situation is now in Antique” where two COVID-19 Delta variant cases were detected.He noted that the cases happened in May yet, where one died and one recovered.“We will be observing closely if this variant is really present right now in Region 6, especially in Panay,” he said.If the Delta variant appears in the same manner as it appeared in India and Indonesia Negros Occidental’s hospitals will never be ready, he said.That is why prevention is important, and the observance of health protocols, he said.“We will...

The 123,940 doses of COVID-19 vaccines that arrived at the Bacolod-Silay Airport Monday, July 19.*.Janelle Dawn Belleza Aragona/Faye Barbasa photoThere were 123,940 doses of Pfizer, Johnson and Jonhson and AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City on Monday, July 19, to boost the fight against COVID-19.Negros Occidental received 72,900 doses, of which 70,000 were Johnson & Johnson vaccines and 2,900 were AstraZeneca.Bacolod City received 51,040 doses, of which 30,000 doses were Johnson and Johnson vaccines, 18,700 doses - AstraZeneca and 2,340 doses - Pfizer.Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the 51,040 doses were the biggest volume received by Bacolod in one delivery since the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program.“We wish to t...

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia released an executive order Sunday, July 18, banning leisure travel between Bacolod City and Panay Island as a border control deterrent against the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, effective immediately.Leonardia, in Executive Order 39-A, Series of 2021, also said fully vaccinated Bacolod residents will again be required to present negative RT-PCR test results obtained within 72 hours prior to and upon arrival in Bacolod City.Leonardia said Department of Health (DOH) officials have warned of two COVID-19 Delta variant cases in Panay.Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 regional director, on Friday announced the detection of two local Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases in Western Visayas, and that a close watch is up for clustering and surges of COVID-19 c...