Carla P. Gomez

Former rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez said Sunday, July 18, that he fully met the requirements to register to vote in Bacolod City and is ready for an Election Registration Board hearing.Kathrina Trinio-Caña, city election officer and ERB chair, has set the hearing at the Bacolod Commission on Elections office at 9 a.m. Monday, July 19.Three persons allied with the Grupo Progreso party of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia filed their opposition to Benitez's application for registration to vote in the city, for allegedly being a non-resident.The oppositors claim he is not a resident of Mountain View Subdivision in Bacolod City.His registration to vote in Bacolod is seen as a prelude to his running for mayor against Leonardia in 2022.Benitez reiterated that the opposi...

Trips of fastcraft vessels plying the Bacolod-Iloilo route have been reduced by half since late last week, Frank Carbon of Weesam Express said Sunday, July 18.Carbon said there has been a drastic drop in passengers after Iloilo City and Iloilo province were placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine.The fastcrafts of three companies plying the route used to have two trips a day each for a total of six, he said.He said the number has dropped to three with Weesam Express down to one trip and OceanJet with two trips a day.Carbon urged Bacolod and Negros Occidental residents to strictly observe health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the elevation of the quarantine status over their areas.*

Mayor Evelio Leonardia has issued an executive order creating the Bacolod Safety Seal Committee for the Safety Seal Certification Program of the city.Leonardia, in Executive Order 37, said the Safety Seals to be issued by the city will be a physical manifestation of the compliance of an establishment to the minimum health standards required by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19.The seal should be displayed conspicuously at all entrance points of establishments and will be at no cost to them, the mayor said.This is to ensure that health and safety protocols are implemented, as part of the “new normal” in the conduct of business and trade Bacolod, with the end view of protecting the public from COVID-19 and to assure them of compliance of establishments, he said...

The funeral mass for the Palanca brothers in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, Sunday, July 18.*Romeo Subaldo photoThe Palanca brothers, who have been described as visionaries, were laid to rest at the Victorias Public Cemetery in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, Sunday, July 18.Simplicio Palanca, founder and chairman of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp., was remembered as the man who started reclamation work in the Philippines.He was 98 when he succumbed to a cardiac arrest at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center in Bacolod City on July 10.Dr. Ernesto Palanca, founder and executive director of the Negros Occidental Drug Rehabilitation Foundation Inc. in Victorias City, was part of the team that performed the first kidney transplant in the Philippines.He wa...

Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 regional director, announces the detection of Delta variant cases in Western Visayas at a virtual press conference Friday, July 16.*The Department of Health announced the detection of two local Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases in Western Visayas on Friday, July 16, and a close watch is up for clustering and surges of COVID-19 cases in the region to prevent its spread.Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 regional director, advised the public to remain calm and vigilant, emphasizing that adherence to health protocols can still significantly prevent the risk of transmission.Hit by the Delta variant were an elderly couple from Antique who were hospitalized on May 27. The husband who was asymptomatic recovered but the wife died on May 31.The wife who was a type 2...

Former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo "Albee" Benitez categorically said he is running for mayor of Bacolod in the 2022 polls, sources at a lunch meeting with him Friday, July 16, said.Benitez, however, could not be reached for confirmation.He reportedly confirmed that he is running for mayor at a lunch attended by about 60 members of the Bacolod business community at the Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City.Panchit Cajili Cuaycong, in a Facebook post, said Benitez publicly announced for the first time that he is running for mayor of Bacolod.“He told me he is running,” Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines, also said.Benitez, former representative of the third district of Negros Occidental, is the provincial consultant for econom...

The first batch of single-shot Janssen anti-COVID- vaccines that arrived in the country Friday, July 16.*Western Visayas is set to receive 289,885 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines targeted for senior citizens and highly urbanized cities in the region, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 regional director, said Friday, July 16.The first batch of single-shot Janssen anti-COVID- vaccines consisting of 1,606,600 doses arrived in the Philippines Friday, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 announced.The vaccines produced by American pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson were donated by the United States government through the COVAX facility.Suba-an said on top of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines other brands are also arriving in the region this month.The va...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has yet to decide whether additional flights for fully vaccinated individuals from Manila to the Bacolod Silay Airport should be allowed, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Friday, July 16.Philippine Airlines that operates two Manila-Bacolod-Manila commercial flights on Mondays and Fridays, is asking to be allowed to also fly in passengers on Sundays, Diaz said.Its flights from Manila on Sundays are currently only allowed to bring in cargo, Diaz said.“There is a proposal but it has not been analyzed by the governor yet,” Diaz said.*

The satellite registration for the youth in Bacolod Friday, July 16.*BaCoD photoThere were 309 youth voters who registered to vote in Bacolod City Friday, July 16, Election Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña said.The special registration of youth voters was held at the St. Joseph School - La Salle in Barangay Villamonte, Bacolod City.Those targeted for registration were from barangays Villamonte, Estefania, 8, 7, and 17, Genrick Catalonia, Bacolod Youth Coalition for Democracy (BaCoD) satellite registration onsite director, said.Catalonia said the youth were already identified by the Sangguniang Kabataan and had undergone pre-registration to ensure a “smooth and swift” registration process.The satellite registration in Villamonte was the first of three agreed on by BaCoD and...

Ronnie Baldonado photoPresident Rodrigo Duterte has placed Bacolod City under General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions (GCQ-HR) starting Friday, July 16 until July 22, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced Thursday, July 15.The National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) initially recommended that Bacolod City be placed under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ). However, Mayor Evelio Leonardia asked that Bacolod be allowed to remain under GCQ but it got a slightly higher quarantine status.The president retained the GCQ status of Negros Occidental until July 31.Leonardia Thursday night issued Executive Order No 39, Series of 2021 placing Bacolod City under GCQ-HR until July 22.The ordinance states that Church and religious gatherings will n...