Carla P. Gomez

Bishop Julito Cortes appealed to the faithful to pray for Dumaguete City’s officials and all those hit by COVID-19, and to observe health protocols to prevent the further spread of the virus.“Let us pray even more: individually, as family, as community. Let us together beseech the Lord to deliver us from this calamitous pandemic that has wreaked unimaginable uncertainty and unspeakable grief to many of us,” the Dumaguete bishop said.Dumaguete City Vice Mayor Allen Gel Cordova died during a bike-for-a-cause activity Sunday, May 30, shortly after he recovered from COVID-19.Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Remollo and four councilors tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently in isolation.Cortes, in his appeal to the faithful issued Monday, May 31, said the Diocese of Dumaguete mour...

Curfew will remain from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and limiting mass gatherings to 30 percent of a venue’s capacity is strongly urged in Bacolod City amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases.This was stressed by Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia in Executive Order No. 30 Series of 2021 issued on Monday, May 31, extending the Modified General Community Quarantine in Bacolod City to June 30.However, with the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City the mayor may issue an additional executive order imposing more stringent measures to prevent the spread of the virus, City Administrator Em Ang said.The Department of Health on Monday classified Bacolod City as a high risk area for COVID-19.Bacolod City had 121 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, June 1, for a total of 1,252 active cases, the D...

The Negros Occidental Public Information Office and Provincial Treasurer’s Office at the Capitol in Bacolod City were closed Tuesday, June 1, as a precaution against COVID 19, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The PIO will be closed for five days because its employees are under observation since a companion of one their co-workers tested positive for COVID-19, he said.The PIO employee who lives in the same house as the one who tested positive for COVID-19 is also not feeling well, he said.The PIO employees will be tested for COVID-19 after five days, Diaz said.The Provincial Treasurer’s Office was closed for half a day for disinfection Tuesday after two of its employees tested positive for COVID-19, he added.The Treasurer’s Office reopened later in the day, h...

Norppo photoPCol. Glenn Mayam assumed the leadership of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NORPPO) as officer-in-charge Tuesday, June 1, following the reassignment of PCol. Bryant Demot to Police Regional Office 7.Mayam and Demot belong to Philippine National Police Academy Class ’98 Kabalikat. Mayam was previously assigned at the Police Regional Office 7 Headquarters.The turn-over of command ceremony was officiated by PBrig. Gen. Mafelino Bazar, the Deputy Regional Director for Administration of Police Regional Office 7, at the NOPPO Multipurpose Hall, at Camp Francisco C. Fernandez Jr. in Brgy. Agan-an, Sibulan, Negros Oriental, Tuesday afternoon.Demot thanked the personnel of NOPPO for the relentless support they extended during his stint as the provincial dir...

President Rodrigo Duterte announced Monday night, May 31, that Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will remain under Modified General Community Quarantine in June.However, the Department of Health in Western Visayas had raised the COVID-19 classification of Bacolod City from moderate to high risk Monday morning, May 31.Negros Occidental, on the other hand, remains a low risk area, the DOH said.The DOH said the average COVID-19 daily attack rate of Bacolod City rose from 9.85 percent from May 3 to 16 to 10.98 percent from May 17 to 30.Classified along with Bacolod City as a high risk area is Iloilo City, while moderate risk areas are Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo province, the DOH said.Classified as low risk along with Negros Occidental is Aklan.The overall clas...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has extended the duration of the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) over Negros Occidental until 11:59 p.m. of June 30, and shortened curfew by an hour to curb the spread of COVID-19.“Upon our doctors advice, we will keep the four-day work week and one day work from home schedule“ of the provincial government employees, Lacson also told DIGICAST NEGROS.Lacson, in Executive Order No. 21-27 Series of 2021 set curfew over Negros Occidental from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. in June from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. in May.Exempted from curfew are persons in need of emergency services, personnel in cargo vehicles, and Authorized Persons Outside their Residence with a valid work schedule.EO 21-27 states that uniform travel protocols under Inter-Agency Task Force for Em...

Bacolod CIty PIO file photoSenate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the bill establishing a P600 million Bacolod City General Hospital (BCGH) was approved by the Senate on third reading Monday, May 31.“Now it will await the president’s signature,” Zubiri told DIGICAST NEGROS.The senator said he is optimistic President Rodrigo Duterte will sign it into law.The hospital will cater to residents of Bacolod City, said Zubiri, author and co-sponsor of Senate Bill No. 1647, the counterpart measure to House Bill No. 6731 authored by Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya.Right now, the whole province of Negros Occidental has only one tertiary government hospital and Bacolod alone has a population of over half a million people, Zubiri said."We saw how our hospitals have stru...

Mayor Jaojoco photoThe Toboso Municipal Hall will be locked down from Monday, March 31, to Wednesday, June 2, after a department head tested positive for COVID-19, Mayor Richard Jaojoco said.“This is to give way to disinfection and contact tracing,” he said.The municipal government’s accountant tested positive for Covid-19 and they have swabbed about 20 to 30 of his close contacts for RT-PCR tests, Jaojoco said.Their test results will determine if more contact tracing needs to be undertaken, he said.The last time the accountant was at the town hall was on Wednesday, May 26, and he is now confined at a hospital. He is symptomatic and has low oxygenation, Jaojoco said.A member of the accountant’s family also tested positive for COVID-19.Jaojoco, who is temporarily...

COVID-19 has caused the temporary lockdown of a mall and two banks in Kabankalan City, Mayor Pedro Zayco said Monday, May 31.Zayco said the Gaisano mall temporary closed last week but a section has since reopened with a skeleton force.The Gaisano stores closed temporarily, but those of the tenants at the mall remained open, he said.He said about 63 employees from the mall and others who were contact traced have tested positive for the virus. Only the Gaisano employees who have tested negative have been allowed to return to work, he added.The city government shouldered the cost of the mass testing of all of its employees, and conducted massive contact tracing, Zayco said.He said 12 employees of the BDO branch at Guanzon Street and one at the Philippine National Bank in K...

Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer is the richest member of the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan with a net worth of P106,538,000.This was contained in a report on the 2020 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of the 16 members of the SP prepared by the SP secretary, lawyer Maki Angel Ascalon, that was released Monday, May 31.Thirteen board members are millionaires, too, the report showed.The net worth of the board members are: Rita Gatuslao (5th District) – P36.2 million, Andrew Montelibano ( 3rd District) – P24. 3 million, Valentino Miguel Alonso (6th District) –P16.5 million, Frederick Manuel Ko ( 3rd District) - P12.9 million;Sixto Teofilo Guanzon ( 2nd District) – P12.4 million, Ryan Gamboa (Provincial Councilors League) – P10.2...