Carla P. Gomez

The Negros Occidental provincial government began the rollout of its newly received 38,400 Sinovac vaccines in five cities and two towns Thursday, July 1, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Delivered were 1,598 doses to Escalante City, Sagay City, Talisay City, La Carlota City, Kabankalan City, EB Magalona, and Pulupandan.Diaz said 1,511 doses were administered or 94.56 percent.Escalante City, Sagay City and La Carlota City fully consumed the vaccines delivered to them, he said.EB Magalona had a 97 percent performance rate, Kabankalan City - 96 percent, Talisay City -91 percent and Pulupandan -75 percent.The delivery of the Sinovac vaccines to towns and cities of Negros Occidental will be daily until the supply last, Zeaphard Caelian, Provincial Incident Manag...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 35 Wednesday, June 30, placing Bacolod City under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in July, and naming businesses not allowed to operate.The movement of all persons will be limited to accessing goods and services from permitted establishments, for work or for such other essential activities authorized by the national and local rules on quarantine, he said.Leonardia said Executive Order No. 31 issued on June 6 is adopted in EO 35 with the amendment that it is now mandated, and not merely strongly advised, that Church/religious gatherings for holy mass, prayers, worship services and other similar activities, should be at a maximum of 30 percent of the venue capacity.Gatherings outside of residences will be prohibited, except for...

A Manila-based lawyer is facing charges for “mocking” Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections in his Twitter account.The Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office has found probable cause to file a cyber unjust vexation case against Ferdinand Topacio.Guanzon, a Negrense, filed the complaint against Topacio on June 23, 2020, before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office but Topacio sought its transfer because of perceived partiality. The complaint was reassigned to the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office and raffled off to Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Adri Anne T. Montes-Española.Española on May 12 recommended the filing of the charges against Topacio for cyber unjust vexation under Article 287, paragraph 2 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Section 73 of Republic Ac...

The 7,800 Sinovac vaccines that arrived for Bacolod City.*Bacolod PIO photoThe 34,800 Sinovac vaccines for Negros Occidental and 7,800 for Bacolod City arrived Wednesday, June 30, with more expected to come.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lascon said that it was the largest single shipment to Negros Occidental so far, and the vaccines will be immediately distributed to towns and cities ready to inoculate their residents.“This is the biggest number of vaccines that we received at one time. There is a focus on Western Visayas because of the (COVID-19) cases. Let’s really take advantage. On the part of the provincial government we are ready to rollout whatever vaccines we have,” Lacson said.The Pfizer mass vaccination at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City and the Teresita L. Jalandoni P...

Planeside honors were given to a Negrense Philippine Air Force pilot who died in a helicopter crash in Capas, Tarlac, at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Wednesday morning, June 30.Maj. Eraño Belen, 34, of the Philippine Air Force died along with five others when the S70i Black Hawk helicopter they were on board crashed during a night flight training on June 23,Maj. Cenon Pancito III, 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson, said.The remains of Belen, who is a native of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, was brought to his residence in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, Pancito said.He graduated valedictorian of the Philippine Military Academy Masidlak Class of 2010.He will be buried at Heavens Gate Cemetery in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, at 10 a.m. Sun...

Placing Negros Occidental and Bacolod City under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in July won’t make much difference in the lives of residents since most of its restrictions are already being enforced in the province and city under the current Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), officials said Tuesday, June 29.Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will be under GCQ in July, one notch stricter than its current MGCQ, subject to appeal by the local government unit (LGU), Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced Monday night.In response Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued Executive Order 21-33, Series of 2021 Tuesday, placing Negros Occidental under GCQ from July 1 to 31 to help curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases.Negros Occidental had 1,899 active COVID-19 cases Tues...

Bacolod City’s COVID-19 deaths this month hit 54 on Tuesday, June 29, City Administrator Em Ang said.Ang, who is also the Emergency Operations Center executive director, said the June deaths are the second highest in a single month since the pandemic started. The highest was 76 in September 2020.The COVID-19 deaths in Bacolod City are now 331, she said.Bacolod also had 3,476 COVID-19 cases in June for a total of 13,255 since the pandemic started, Ang said.Bacolod City had 56 new COVID-19 cases for a total of 1,856 active cases on Tuesday, the Department of Health also reported.Meanwhile, Dr. Julius Drilon, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital chief, said the COVID-19 positivity rate based on the swab samples from the Bacolod City Epidemiology and Survei...