Carla P. Gomez

The graduation and moving up exercises for school year 2020-2021 will be on July 12 to 16, Ian Arnold Arnaez, Department of Education Negros Occidental spokesperson, said Tuesday, June 29.There will be no actual graduation and moving up ceremonies because of the ban on face to face interaction with students, he said.However, virtual graduations and moving up ceremonies may be held in areas where there is adequate Internet connectivity, he said.Arnaez said making students go out to have their pictures taken for yearbooks is being discouraged because of COVID-19 restrictions.Some students who are not graduating will be given time to submit their modules beyond July 12 to 16, he said.That is because in some areas the distribution and collection of student modules were dela...

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) aims to have 2 million registered voters in Negros Occidental for the May 2022 polls, Acting Provincial Elections Supervisor Ma. Fatima Aspan said Tuesday, June 29.Negros Occidental had 1,889,200 voters in 2019 and at present it has 1,806,912 or 82,288 less, she said.The registration of news voters is still ongoing giving them time to try to reach their target, she said.There are 32 city and town Comelec offices in Negros Occidental.The ongoing nationwide voter registration will end on September 30.*

Hard work paid off, the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City ranked fifth place among Level III DOH-retained Hospitals, CLMMRH announced Tuesday, June 29.The Department of Health in Memorandum 2021-0055A said CLMMRH is one of its top Level 3 hospitals in terms of performance evaluation that makes use of a stringent set of guidelines that is evaluated independently by the AO25 Inter Agency Task Force, it said.Through this, CLMMRH qualified plantilla employees are eligible to receive 57.5 percent of their 2018 basic salary as a reward for their hard work and dedication to the overall performance of the hospital, by ensuring accessible, safe and affordable patient care to all patients, the announcement said.*

Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) in July, one notch stricter than its current modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).This was announced by presidential spokesman Harry Roque during President Rodrigo’s Weekly Talk to the people aired live Monday night, June 28.Also placed under GCQ for July in Western Visayas are Guimaras, Aklan, Antique and Capiz.Iloilo City, Iloilo province and Negros Oriental will remain under modified enhance community quarantine (MECQ) until July 15.Mayor Evelio Leonardia Monday night said he was not aware that Bacolod had been placed under GCQ, but it would mean further limiting of persons at public venues, which has already been implemented in Bacolod City even while under MECQ.Not allowed under...

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has warned the Negros Occidental provincial government to complete 23 communal irrigation projects or lose the P45.4 million allocated for them, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, June 28.The DA on Friday, June 25, furnished the provincial government with a list of the 23 projects that were supposed to have been completed from 2014 to 2017 under the supervision of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), Diaz said.A show cause order will be issued to Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino to explain the unfinished projects, and the Capitol will also blacklist the 17 contactors of the 23 communal irrigation projects if they fail to finish them by December 2021, Diaz said.The provincial government will then terminat...

The Pfizer mass vaccination at the Negros Residences Monday.*Richard Malihan photoNegros Occidental and Bacolod City will receive 42,600 doses of Sinovac vaccines on Wednesday, Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease section of the Department of Health in Western Visayas, said Monday, June 28.She said Negros Occidental will receive 34,800 doses and Bacolod City will get 7,800 doses.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the mass vaccination still only covers persons under the A1 to A3 categories - health workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.They still have not been given the go signal by the national government to include economic frontline workers who fall under the A4 category, he said.The Negros Occidental provincial governme...

The creation of a second congressional district for Bacolod City in time for the May 2022 elections is no longer possible, is dead, Councilor Al Victor Espino said Monday, June 28.House Bill No. 566 and House Bill No. 537 filed by Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya and Abang Lingkod Rep. Stephen Paduano in the 18th Congress seeking the creation of the second congressional district are pending before the House Committee on Local Government.Espino, who had hoped that they would be passed into law, said there is no more time to do it now with the polls fast approaching.He wanted a second congressional district for Bacolod City for economic reasons and not for political accommodation of anybody, Espino said.This is because the Internal Revenue Allotment of Local Government Units is com...

Bacolod City remains a moderate risk area for COVID-19 and Negros Occidental a low risk area, the Department of Health reported Monday, June 28.The risk classification of the entire Western Visayas is low, the DOH also said.Also classified as moderate risk areas were Aklan, Guimaras and Iloilo City, while low risk areas are Antique, Capiz and Iloilo province.Generally, the health care utilization rate in Western Visayas is still at moderate risk, the DOH added.However, the Western Visayas positivity rate from June 17 to 27 increased from 8 to 8.4 percent indicating increased transmission of COVID-19, it added.Negros Occidental had 137 new COVID-19 cases and Bacolod City had 130 on Monday, the DOH said.Bacolod City has 1,859 active COVID-19 cases and Negros Occidenta...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Monday, June 28, that the new Negros Occidental provincial agriculturist will be an outsider.Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino is set to retire on Thursday, July 1.Lacson said he has asked Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz to talk to the person being eyed to be the new provincial agriculturist and to make his recommendation.He will not come from the ranks of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), he said.The governor, however, did not name the person. “We don’t know if the person will even agree so that’s why he will be interviewed first by Atty Diaz,” Lacson said.They have also not decided who the officer-in-charge of the OPA will be in the meantime, he said.Diaz said a recommendation for an OIC will be submitt...

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Thursday, July 1, a special non-working day in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.San Carlos City will mark its charter day on July 1, Proclamation 1171 said.It is but fitting and proper that the people of San Carlos City be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in its charter day rites subject to community quarantine, social distancing and other public health measures, the proclamation said.San Carlos City had 45 active COVID-19 cases on Monday, June 28.It has had 1,791 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic last year, with 1,669 recoveries and 77 deaths.*