Carla P. Gomez

Bacolod City received 10,000 more Sinovac vaccines Tuesday, July 6.*Bacolod PIO photoMayor Evelio Leonardia is asking for additional vaccines from the national government as the number of COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City is still alarming.Leonardia in a July 1 letter to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer and vaccine czar of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, said he is requesting for additional vaccines to be able to accelerate the pace of vaccinations in Bacolod City and to move through the priority groups more quickly.He said the city government is doing its best to contain the spread of the virus, but Bacolod is still “experiencing an alarmingly persistent surge of Covid-19 cases.”Bacolod had closed the month of June with the highest number of cases since t...

The Negros Occidental provincial government is taking action against vehicles illegally parked at the Negros First CyberCentre (NFCC) in Bacolod City as part of its beefed up security measures at the facility, Capitol Special Operations Officer 2 Renelo Lastierre said Tuesday, July 6.The provincial government took over the management and security of NFCC from the Negros Property Management and Development Corp. at midnight of June 30, he said.There are vehicles that do not belong to tenants of the NFCC that have been parked in its parking area for a long time, Lastierre said.Police blotter reports have been filed as a prelude to having the vehicles towed out of the area, he added.They will issue access passes for vehicles of tenants and guests to regulate parking at the NFC...

Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will comply with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) directive that fully vaccinated individuals need not present negative COVID-19 test results when travelling within the Philippines.Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he is issuing an executive order Tuesday, July 6, enforcing IATF-EID Resolution No. 124-5 that allows fully vaccinated individuals to enter Negros Occidental without presenting negative RT-PCR test results.The no RT-PCR results rule will apply two weeks after an individual’s second dose, he said.Under the new IATF-EID directive, fully vaccinated individuals only need to present their vaccination card for interzonal travel and intrazonal movement.Lacson said he has instruct...

Capitol photoMore Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines are arriving in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will receive 10,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines each on Tuesday. July 6, Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease section of the Department of Health in Western Visayas, said.The provincial government was also informed that on July 15, it will receive 3,500 of the 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines it purchased, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, July 5.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has promised to give the 31 local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental 1,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines each for their employees so their workplaces will be safe, Diaz said.However, since only 3,500 doses are initially ...

Richard Malihan photoThe Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital (TLJPH) in Silay City is only accepting emergency surgical operations until further notice, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, July 5.The TLJPH emergency and operating rooms will only be accepting emergency cases until a risk assessment is completed and they are confident there are no more COVID-19 positive cases at the hospital, he said.Dr. Mary Ann Maestral, TLJPH officer-in-charge, and Dr. Girlie Pinongan, Hospital Operations Department OIC, recommended this because of the increasing number of COVID-19 infected frontline staff, Diaz said.Diaz said two more staff of the TLJPH tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and Monday.There were five other TLJPH frontliners and some members of ...

The Negros Occidental provincial government has taken over the management of its Negros First CyberCentre in Bacolod City.It was a very smooth transfer from the Negros Property Management and Development Corp. (NPMDC), Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, July 5.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson had signed a mutual termination agreement with NPMDC in May to end its management of the provincial government-owned NFCC.A new security group has been hired by the provincial government to secure the NFCC, Diaz said.New security features have also been put in place, he said.Meanwhile, the plan to transfer the Negros Occidental Capitol from Bacolod City to Talisay City is still on, Lacson said.Lacson said they have notified the contractor who won the bid to build the ...

An alleged New People’s Army rebel was killed in an encounter with 62nd Infantry Battalion soldiers in Sitio Pitik Pitik, Brgy Luz, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental at about 7 p.m. Sunday, July 4, Maj. Cenon Pancito III, 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson, said.The 62IB soldiers encountered about five Communist rebels and a firefight lasted about five minutes, he said.There was no casualty on the government side, Pancito said.He said they recovered the body of the slain rebel, a 357 caliber revolver and one hand grenade.*

City PIO photoNegros Occidental and Bacolod City administered 170,507 COVID-19 jabs as of Friday, July 2, but still have a long way to go towards reaching herd immunity.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Sunday, July 4, that 101,553 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Negros Occidental so far.Administered vaccines were Sinovac – 61,558, AstraZeneca - 35,481 and Pfizer - 4,514, he said.The targets to be vaccinated in Negros Occidental are 1,825,730 residents or 70 percent of its population, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Those who have received their first dose in Negros Occidental are 82,376 or 4.51 percent of the target, and those with second jabs are 19,177 or 1.05 percent, he added.IN BACOLODIn Bacolod City 68,954 Sinovac and AstraZeneca vacc...

“I’m not dead, I am very much alive and healthy.”This was stressed by Yanson Group Bus of Companies matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, 87, amid rumors circulating Sunday, July 4, that she had passed away.“Tell those people who want me dead, I love the Lord and he will not let me die because I still have a mission in this world to help others,” she told Digicast Negros.Yanson said she is alive and kicking and in fact had gone to Church in Tanay, Rizal, Sunday.Yanson said she lives in Makati City and her doctors say she is healthy.“Tell the people of Bacolod I feel healthy, I am taking care of myself…I am strong,” Yanson said.“Tell them that I love them, I don’t want to die yet because my mission in the world is not finished yet,” she added.Yanson said she is staying in ...

Negrenses light candles for former president Benigno Aquino III at the grounds of the San Antonio Abad Church in Bacolod City, Saturday, July 3.*CPG photoA group of Negrenses held a community memorial for former president Benigno Aquino III at the San Antonio Abad Parish Church in Bacolod City Saturday, July 3, to thank him for his service to the country.The participants dressed in yellow and black joined a mass to mark the 10th day since Aquino, 61, passed away on June 24.They then proceeded to the Church grounds to lay yellow and white flowers and light candles in front of a tarpaulin bearing the former president’s photo and the message “Para kay PNoy Salamat (For PNoy, thank you).”Fr. Noli Blancaflor said the memorial was held to thank Aquino for the decency he brought t...