Carla P. Gomez

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat during her Western Visayas virtual press conference Wednesday, April 28.*Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said Wednesday, April 28, that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the tourism revenue in Western Visayas to drop by -82.55 percent.Tourism revenue in Western Visayas dropped to P22.9 billion in 2020 from P131.4 billion, she said in a virtual press conference.She said 5.8 million tourists visited Western Visayas in 2019 but the pandemic caused the number to drop to 1.1 million last year.“The Department of Tourism is here to help all of you. The mandate of the DOT is to promote tourism but we sought ways to give financial assistance to those who lost their jobs and to provide loans (to businesses) at zero interest rates,” s...

The Bacolod SP members during their Zoom session Wednesday, April 28.*The Sangguniang Panlungsod is showing renewed interest in the creation of a second congressional district in Bacolod as politics starts to heat up in the city.The SP during its regular session Wednesday, April 28, unanimously passed a resolution inquiring from Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya about the status of his proposed bill entitled:“An act reapportioning the lone district of Bacolod City.“Gasataya told DIGICAST NEGROS his proposed bill is pending before the House Committee on Local Government, and a resolution from the city council favoring the reapportionment is needed for it to be acted on.Hopefully, it can then be included in the next hearing of the Committee on Local Government when the House resumes...

Fire burned trees in Spur 21 of Salvador Benedicto town Wednesday afternoon, April 28.*CENRO Bago photoA forest fire hit 250 Acacia mangium trees and other native species at Spur 21 in Barangay Bunga, Salvador Benedicto town, Negros Occidental, Wednesday afternoon, April 28.The trees on half a hectare of the National Greening Program area were burned in the fire that lasted from about 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Joan Nathaniel Gerangaya, head of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office - Bago City, said.The fire started from the grass and burned the leaves of the trees, but they can grow again when it rains, he said.The 250 Acacia mangium trees planted in the area are about four to five years old, Gerangaya said.The trees are located on a hill beside the highwa...

Provincial Administrator’s Office closed for disinfection.*Richard Malihan file photoThe Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator’s Office at the Capitol in Bacolod City will be closed for disinfection Thursday, April 29, after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.The employee who tested positive for COVID-19 is symptomatic, he has a fever and cough, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Wednesday, April 28.He will be quarantined at the Mambukal Resort in Murcia and three of his close contacts will be swabbed for COVID-19 RT-PCR tests Thursday, Diaz said.If the three close contacts test positive more employees at the Provincial Administrator’s Office will have to be tested for COVID-19, he added.Meanwhile, the rest of the staff of the Provincial Administ...

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod approved a resolution Wednesday, April 28, endorsing the use of a portion of Bacolod City’s property in Purok Neptune, Barangay Singgcang-Airport, as a residential area for recent fire victims who had been residing in the area for years.The SP expressed its unanimous support to the commitment of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran of providing residential areas to the residents of a portion of Purok Neptune in accordance with terms and conditions permissible under the law and affordable under the housing program of the city, Councilor Renecito Novero said.The resolution authored by Novero, chairman of the SP Committee on Urban Poor Housing and Resettlement, also supports the plan of constructing a connecting road from P...

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia visited the Purok Neptune fire victims at the J.R. Torres Elementary School to check on their situation Tuesday afternoon.*City PIO photoThe number of houses destroyed in Bacolod City rose to 58, with another fire hitting Barangay 23 Tuesday afternoon, April 17.A fire destroyed three houses and two were damaged in Purok Mahinangpanon, Barangay 23, at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Barangay Captain Wenceslao Parlan said.Chief Inspector Rodel Legaspi, Bacolod fire chief, said destroyed in the Barangay 23 fire were the two-storey wooden houses of Elsa Valera, Junalyn Libiogo and Carmen Morales initially estimated to cost P270,000.The fire originated from the house of Valera situated at the center of the two other houses, he said.They have only ...

Bacolod DRRMO photoSix more inmates at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology isolation facility in Barangay Handumanan, Bacolod City, have tested positive for COVID-19, City Administrator Em Ang said Tuesday, April 27.This brings the total number of inmates infected to 52 with 46 having tested positive as of Sunday, April 25, Ang, who is also the executive director of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center, said.There have also been 15 policemen at the Bacolod Police Station 4 and eight at Station 1 who tested positive for COVID-19, she added.The employees at a English tutorial firm with Korean clients at La Salle Avenue in Bacolod City who tested positive for COVID-19 also rose to 20, she said.There are 37 new COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City for a total of 864 act...

Capitol photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and several other senior citizen mayors will be vaccinated against COVID-19 at the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City on Friday, April 29.The governor along with other senior citizen local chief executives will be inoculated with Sinovac vaccines, and if there are extra doses Capitol department heads will be qualified as substitutes, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, April 27.The mayors who have voluntarily agreed to be vaccinated with the governor are Manuel Escalante of Manapla, Nadie Arceo of Hinigaran and Ernesto Estrao of Hinob-aan, Diaz said.Candoni Mayor Cicero Borromeo has yet to confirm if he will be vaccinated on Friday, he added.Diaz said they also have ten doses ...

Capitol photoThe new COVID-19 molecular laboratory at the Valladolid District Hospital compound at Barangay Tabao in Valladolid town, Negros Occidental, is now open for business, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, April 27.The laboratory owned by Safeguard DNA Diagnostics Inc. can conduct 1,000 to 2,000 COVID-19 tests a day when it reaches its full operating capacity, he said.The laboratory will serve the needs of Negros Occidental and Oriental, and Panay residents, he said.Safeguard DNA Diagnostics Inc. swab booths have been set up in front of the Provincial Health Office in Bacolod City for residents who wish to be tested for COVID-19. The results will be sent to them via their cellular phones, Diaz said.They are offering 80 free COVID-19 tests for ...