Carla P. Gomez

The Commission on Elections will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday starting this week to accommodate the growing number of people wanting to register to vote, Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña said.In March, the Comelec shortened voter registration hours to 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays because of the surge in COVID-19 cases.Eight employees of the Bacolod Comelec office also tested positive for COVID-19 in late March causing its temporary shutdown.Since they are operating on a 50 percent workforce the Bacolod Comelec only has eight employees reporting daily so they are undermanned, Caña said.However, they are doing their best to accommodate as many voter registrants as they can, she added.Long lines of people have been seen gathering ...

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Thursday, May 13, a regular holiday throughout the country in observance of Eid’l Fitr or the Feast of Ramadan.Proclamation No. 1142, signed by Duterte on Monday, May 10, said Eid’l Fitr is celebrated by the Muslim world for three days after the end of the month long fasting.“In order to bring the religious and cultural significance of the Eid’l Fitr to the fore of national consciousness, it is necessary to declare Thursday, May 13, a regular holiday throughout the country,” the proclamation said.“The entire Filipino nation should have the full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sisters in peace and harmony in the observance and celebration of Eid’l Fitr, subject to community quarantine, social distancing, and other public healt...

OCTA Research Group has tagged Bacolod City and two other cities as “areas of concern” following the rise in their COVID-19 cases.The independent research group in a report released Saturday, May 8, said the two other cities are Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental and Puerto Princesa in Palawan.OCTA said from May 1 to 7 Bacolod’s COVID-19 cases increased by 19 percent, had a daily attack rate of 13.38 percent with hospital occupancy at 50 percent and ICU at 49 percent.The Department of Health in Western Visayas has also tagged Bacolod City as a high risk area for COVID-19. The city had 935 active COVID-19 cases on Sunday, May 9, the DOH reported.City Administrator Em-Ang said the OCTA tagging of Bacolod as an area of concern is to be expected because its cases were very low ...

Three more Negros Occidental provincial government employees tested positive for COVID-19 during the weekend bringing the total to 34, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Sunday, May 9.The new COVID-19 positive employees are from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, agriculture and environment offices, he said.Diaz said except for the Procurement Services Depot that had ten employees and a security guard who tested positive for COVID-19 and was shutdown, the rest of the provincial government offices will remain open.Negros Occidental’s 2,263 active COVID-19 active cases on Saturday rose to 2,437 on Sunday, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported.The areas with triple-digit COVID-19 cases on Sunday were San Carlos City – 326, Sipalay City – 161, La Carlota City and Ba...

Bacolod DRRM file photoThe national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Saturday, May 8, issued a new protocol for Returning Overseas Filipinos and Overseas Filipino Workers, Councilor Israel Salanga, chair of the Bacolod Action Team on OFWs and ROFs, said.The new protocol states that all arriving travelers should undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival. The first 10 days of which should be observed in a quarantine facility, with the remainder to be completed under home quarantine in their respective local government units of destination, he said.This means the swabbing for an RT-PCR test on the fifth day of arrival and being allowed to immediately return to home provinces if they yield negative test results will no longer will...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia paid tribute to mothers Sunday, May 9, as the world marked Mother’s Day.“The past year, massive as it was for everyone, has shown that the Filipino women are among the best mothers in the world ─ passionate, resilient, skilled, and tough in the face of all the challenges humanity never saw coming,” Lacson said.No one could have anticipated the toll and suffering the COVID-19 pandemic would bring, yet, such circumstance revealed what mothers were capable of, he said.Mothers were manning the frontlines, juggling work and family, and some suddenly found themselves as home school teachers, he said, pointing out that “clearly, mothers are among the champions of our pandemic journey”.Lacson stressed the...

Firefighters battle through thick smoke to put out the blaze at Barangay 12 in Bacolod City.*Arthur Yap photoFirefighters battled through thick smoke and zero visibility to put out a blaze that destroyed seven houses and damaged three others at Purok Malipayon, Barangay 12, Bacolod City, Friday morning, May 7, Bacolod fire chief Rodel Legaspi said.One firefighter, F01 John Vincent Batabat, sustained a laceration on his left palm while putting out the blaze.The destruction from the fire, which began at about 9:34 a.m. and was placed under control at 10:46 a.m., was initially estimated at P450,000, Legaspi said.Most of the houses hit by the blaze were two storey structures at San Juan Street made of concrete and wood, some of which also had eateries, small stores and a bakery...

Bacolod DRRM photoThere will be no provincewide lockdown or request for a total travel moratorium with the surge of COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz stressed Friday, May 7.There will only be granular lockdowns in specific areas hit by COVID-19 and denial of travelers’ entry into Negros Occidental if they are headed for towns and cities where quarantine facilities are full, said Diaz, who is also Negros Occidental Inter-Agency Task Force action officer.There were 125 new COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental on Friday, the Department of Health reported.The province has 2,312 COVID-19 active cases, the Provincial Incident Management Team also reported on Friday.Mayors of Negros Occidental have been informed that that if their COVI...

Bacolod City government’s mass vaccination drive against COVID-19 for registered health care workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities will resume Saturday, May 8, City Administrator Em Ang said Friday.The fifth day of the mass vaccination drive at SM City on Friday was cancelled because of crowd control problems.Ang said they needed to reassess their protocols and procedures so they could implement a more orderly and safer flow of vaccination.The mass vaccination will resume at Ayala Malls Capitol Central in Bacolod from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Monday, and at SM City on Monday, she said.Among those scheduled for vaccination Saturday are groups of registered senior citizens and persons with comorbidities from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and vol...

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (3rd and 4th from left) lead the welcoming committee for the 1.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 on Friday.*PNA photoNegros Occidental and Bacolod City are set to receive 6,000 more Sinovac vaccines good for 3,000 persons, Dr. Jane Juanico, Department of Health 6 infectious disease section head, said Friday, May 7.The province and city will receive 3,000 doses each, she said.These are part of the 38,400 doses allotted for Western Visayas from the 1.5 million doses of government-procured Sinovac vaccines that arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International via a Cebu Pacific flight on Friday.Iloilo province will receive 15,000 doses, Aklan, Anti...