Carla P. Gomez

Silay Mayor Mark Golez denied Friday, April 16, that he is engaged in quarry operations in Silay City or in any other place.The New People’s Army (NPA) Roselyn Jean Pelle Command (RJPC) in Northern Negros, in a statement Friday, said it burned heavy equipment operated by Golez in Hacienda Vista Alegre, Barangay E. Lopez, Silay City in Negros Occidental in response to the people’s clamor to punish large-scale quarry operations, which recently caused massive flooding in the area.The sanction was carried out by the RJPC at about 10 p.m. Monday, April 12, and paralyzed three backhoes at the Malogo river quarry site, the group’s spokesperson Cecil Estrella said.The NPA also warned that sanctions will also be meted on other entities who ravage the environment and cause harm to the pe...

Bacolod PIO file photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is appealing to passengers from other parts of the country expected to start arriving in Negros Occidental on Tuesday, April 20, to agree to be tested for COVID-19 and quarantined on arrival.The moratorium on the entry of passengers from the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Davao and Cebu in Western Visayas is only up to Monday, April 19.He has not received any advice from his colleagues in Panay on a request for a third moratorium, Lacson said Friday, April 16.“Most likely there will be no more extension,” he said.Lacson said he is still hoping the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will grant Negros Occidental permission to test p...

Three local government units in Negros Occidental have closed all of their tourist destinations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Provincial Tourism Officer Jennylind Cordero said Friday, April 16.The three are Himamaylan City, Candoni and Sipalay City, she said.Other LGUs are also set to close their tourists destinations, while some are operating at 50 to 30 percent capacity only, Cordero said.Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has asked local government units with triple digit COVID-19 cases to close down their tourist destinations.Lacson said he has always given leeway to local government units. “I always think local chief executives know what is best for their areas”, he said.Mayor Jose Nadie Arceo has issued an executive order suspending activities in ...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief assured local government officials that the AztraZeneca vaccine rollout will continue, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Friday, April 16.AstraZeneca has said the vaccine orders of the local governments are expected to arrive by July, Lacson added.Negros Occidental and Bacolod City have made advance purchases for AstraZeneca vaccines.FDA Director General Eric Domingo met with members of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines via Zoom, which was attended by Lacson, Friday morning.The meeting was held after AstraZeneca was put on hold last week because of findings, not in the Philippines, of serious adverse effects such as blood clotting, Lacson said.Domingo, at the ULAP meeting “made it clear that ...

COVID-19 active cases in Negros Occidental hit an all-time high Thursday, April 15, and “it will take a while before we will see a downward trend,” Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.There were 1,936 COVID-19 active cases Thursday, the highest since the pandemic hit in March last year, Lacson said.The province had 290 new cases Thursday, the Department of Health also reported.Of the 290, the DOH said local cases were 213, returning overseas Filipinos – 62, locally stranded individuals – 13, and Authorized Persons Outside Residence - 2.“Our present number of active cases may continue to increase, we all should do our share in trying to halt this rise. Avoid non-essential travel,” Lacson said.Seven of the 31 local government units in the province have three-digit COVID cases a...

Twenty-five of 214 newly committed inmates brought to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology male isolation facility in Barangay Handumanan, Bacolod City, have tested positive for COVID-19.The newly committed persons deprived of liberty from the various Philippine National Police and other law enforcement units in Negros Occidental were brought to the isolation facility for COVID-19 testing, Jail SSupt. Gilbert Peremne, BJMP Region 6 assistant regional director, said.Those who tested positive were placed in the BJMP Ligtas Covid Center in Talisay City for healing, he said.Those who tested negative were brought back to their jails of origin in various parts of the province, he added.The procedure is before they are placed in their jails of origin they need to be quaranti...

There were about 50 trees that were cut from kilometers 10 to 14 in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City, recently to make way for a sidewalk and solar tourism lights, Granada Barangay Captain Alfredo Talimodao Jr. said Thursday, April 15.Talimodao said they allowed the recent cutting of the trees as they were assured by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that for every tree cut, 100 seedlings will be planted in their place.He will make sure that DPWH complies with its commitment. Talimodao said.The Mahogany and Gmelina trees that were cut were about 20 years old, he said.The DPWH said they had to cut the trees because the solar lights need sunshine to work, he added.DPWH District Engineer Jaime Javellana said the project had an approved tree-cutting permit fr...

The Bacolod Emergency Operations Center is intensifying its campaign against COVID-19 as cases continue to rise at alarming rates, City Administrator Em Ang, EOC executive director, said Thursday, April 15.Their goal is to further intensify contact tracing, expand targeted testing, strictly observe extraction and isolation protocols, and increase capacity of quarantine facilities, Ang said.Bacolod City had 81 new COVID-19 patients Thursday, for a total of 582 active cases, the Department of Health reported.Of the 81 new cases, 77 were caused by local transmission, three were returning Overseas Filipinos and one was a Locally Stranded Individual.There were also two new COVID-19 deaths in Bacolod City for a total of 195.Ang said the Bacolod City Government Center has been...

The Bacolod Hall of Justice has been closed for disinfection after five of its staff tested positive for COVID-19, Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier said Thursday, April 15.The closure from noon Thursday until Friday, April 16, was enforced on verbal instructions Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, Javier said.All physically closed courts can be reached through the listed judiciary hotline and email addresses posted in the Supreme Court website, Javier said.The RTC Office of the Clerk of Court will maintain a skeleton staff to attend to all urgent matters, he said.Javier said the closure for disinfection was enforced after five employees from different offices tested positive for COVID-19.Contact tracing has been conducted, he said.*

NOCPPO photoThe Philippine National Police still has not determined the motive for the killing of the provincial consultant on hospital affairs, but politics is among the angles being looked at, Col. Romy Palgue, Negros Occidental police director, said Thursday, April 15.Mariano Antonio “Marton” Cui III, 62, was shot as he was leaving his office at Emerald Arcade at F.C. Ledesma Avenue in San Carlos City at about 8 p.m. Monday, April 12.Cui, chief of staff of former Rep. Julio Ledesma, was a key player in Negros Occidental first district politics and was rumored to be planning to run for mayor of Toboso.Palgue, however, stressed that the police have no leads on a specific motive yet.He appealed to those who may have any information that could lead to the solution of the...