Carla P. Gomez

Vice President Leni Robredo said in his lifetime visionary businessman Simplicio Palanca envisioned great things and strove to see them to fruition.The vice president, who lauded Palanca for his accomplishments, said she extends her deepest sympathy to his family, friends and all those who loved him.Palanca, 98, died at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center in Bacolod City on July 10 and will be buried at the Victorias City Cemetery after a 2 p.m. mass Sunday at the Our Lady of Victory Parish Church.Robredo said Palanca, as founder and chairman of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp., helped open Bacolod to opportunities.“He believed that his beloved city of Bacolod deserved much more. He went great lengths to show others it was possible,” she said.Robredo said it i...

The Negros Occidental provincial government employees are set to be refunded for undelivered uniforms in 2016, Renelo Lastierre, Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees president, said Wednesday, July 14.He said P300,000 in 2016 uniform allowance claims have been confirmed.Lastierre submitted a summary of the uniform claims to Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.PACE requested the assistance of Diaz for the release of the unpaid fund by the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, he said.The refunds range from P700 to P4,000, Lastierre said.Other Capitol employees are being asked to also submit their claims, he added.This is the second uniform allowance refund, he said.Lastierre thanked Diaz and Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko for acting on the c...

“We cannot afford to add more restrictions that will extend the freeze on our economic recovery,” Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said.*Ronnie Baldonado photoMayor Evelio Leonardia will oppose the recommendation of the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (NIATF-EID) to place Bacolod City under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from July 16 to 31.“We will vigorously appeal against the escalation of our community quarantine status,” he said late Tuesday night, July 13.“It is not debatable that many Bacolodnons have already lost their jobs and businesses because of the prolonged community quarantine. We cannot afford to add more restrictions that will extend the freeze onour economic recovery,” he said.Leonardia said t...

Former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez said the opposition against his transfer of voter registration to Bacolod City filed before the Commission on Elections Tuesday, July 13, is to be expected.“Those moves will not prosper as we fully complied with the requirements of the law,” he said.Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña confirmed that three Bacolod residents, surnamed Abao and Yula filed their opposition late Tuesday.They are questioning Benitez residency in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, she said.Benitez is being urged to run for mayor of Bacolod City against incumbent Evelio Leonardia.He has been making the rounds of Bacolod City but has yet to confirm if he will run for mayor.A press conference of the lawyers of the three Bacolod residents ...

Bacolod expects to boost its vaccination drive against COVID-19 with the arrival of 21,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Wednesday or Thursday, City Administrator Em Ang said Tuesday, July 13.The city government that has been vaccinating persons belonging to the A1 to A3 priority groups, which include health care workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities, is also opening up its vaccination drive to two more priority groups, said Ang, who also is the executive director of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center.They can now vaccinate persons belonging to A4 and A5 priority groups, which cover frontline personnel and the indigent population, she said.“We can cater to A4 and A5 subject to availability of vaccines. A1, A2, A3 remain to be the higher priority,” she...

The Department of Health in Western Visayas is appealing to the public to voluntarily donate blood to help save lives.The restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the reduction of collected blood units from 97,421 in 2019 to only 83,088 in 2020, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH 6 Director, said.He said the DOH is celebrating the National Blood Donor’s Month this July, set under Proclamation 2021 and Republic Act 7719 also known as the National Blood Services Act of 1994, despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.Mobile blood donation activities are essential to maintain an adequate supply of safe blood. However, these were cancelled due to the prohibition of mass gatherings, he said.The ongoing COVID-19 vaccination roll-out further limited t...

Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, chairman of the National Unity Party in Negros Occidental, said he has not received any communication yet from the national leadership of the NUP that the party will support the presidential bid of Davao Mayor Sara Duterte in 2022.They will follow whatever the decision of the national party will be, Ferrer said Tuesday, July 13.“If the NUP will support Sara so be it, no problem, we will support as a party member,” he said.Ferrer, who is also president of the United Negros Alliance, said the local party has not made any decision on whom to support for president yet.Five national political parties – NUP, Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party, Pwersa ng Masa Pilipino and People's Reform Party - want an alliance with the Davao regional party Hugpong ng Pag...

Simplicio Palanca changed Bacolod's landscape.*Mayor Evelio Leonardia on Tuesday, July 13, thanked businessman Simplicio "Sammy" Palanca, whom he called “the man who saw tomorrow,” for changing the landscape of Bacolod literally and figuratively through the creation the city’s reclamation area.“We mourn the passing away of Atty. Simplicio ‘Sammy’ Palanca. We mourn because we lost an extraordinary man. A rarity. He was ‘one of a kind’. He was a man with a vision that nobody else had,” Leonardia said.Palanca, 98, founder and chairman of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (BREDCO), died at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center in Bacolod City on July 10.Leonardia said as early as the 1960s, when Bacolod was relatively laid-back, Palanca had envisioned the reclamation are...

Vaccination center in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City, Monday, July 12.*City PIO photoOnly persons fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at Bacolod vaccination centers will be allowed to travel back into the city from other parts of the country without negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results, an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) official said Monday, July 12.All they need to do is present a valid Bacolod City issued vaccination card and have an S-PaSS account, Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy for medical data and analysis, said.The rest of the travelers into the city without Bacolod vaccination cards will be required to present negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test results with 72-hour validity from point of origin, he said.Sorongon said as of July 9...