Carla P. Gomez

Twenty-one out of 61 Bacolod City barangays have been COVID-19 free for two weeks, the city Emergency Operations Center reported Wednesday, April 14.COVID-free from April 1 to 14 are barangays 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41 and Punta Taytay, it said.There were 58 new COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City on Wednesday, the Department of Health also reported.The 57 were local cases and one was an Authorized Person Outside Residence.Bacolod City had 524 active COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the DOH added.*

Richard Malihan photoA police special investigation task force has been activated to probe the killing of the Negros Occidental provincial consultant on hospital operations in San Carlos City Monday night, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Tuesday, April 13.The National Bureau of Investigation is also being asked to conduct a parallel investigation, Lacson said.Renoir Baldovino, NBI Bacolod chief, said NBI agents will be sent to San Carlos to investigate the killing of Cui on Wednesday, April 14.Mariano Antonio “Marton” Cui III, 62, was declared dead at the San Carlos City Hospital after he 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.The police said he sustained two gunshot wounds in the ...

An outcry from netizens and a call from Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya saved nine decades-old trees from being cut down Tuesday, April 13.It was too late for 26 other trees.Netizens had slammed the cutting of decades-old trees along the Bacolod South Road at Barangay Singcang-Airport to make way for a shoulder paving project, and posted photos of the devastation on social media.“Stop now! Stop these abuses and indifference,” Rhoderick Samonte wrote on his Facebook wall in a “rage against the destroyers.”The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are mandated to protect our environment, we are in the midst of a climate crisis and one of the right ways to deal with this is to plant more trees, Samonte wrote.Ap...

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City breached the 2,000 mark Tuesday, April 13, a Department of Health 6 report said.The DOH also reported two new deaths in Bacolod.A Bacolod doctor who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 died.The doctor tested positive for COVID-19 but was suffering from other underlying illnesses, a source said.There were 159 new local COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental Tuesday, the DOH said.Bacolod City had 32, three of whom were returning overseas Filipinos and the rest were local cases, the DOH added.Negros Occidental now has 1,591 active COVID-19 cases and Bacolod has 486, the DOH said.*

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said stricter measures will be imposed to prevent the surge in COVID-19 cases in the province, with the denial of his request to place Negros Occidental under General Community quarantine.Among these measures will be the closure of tourist destinations in areas with high COVID-19 cases, he said Tuesday afternoon, April 13.Tourist destinations in areas with low COVID-19 cases will be allowed to operate at 50 percent of their venue capacity, he said.Cockpits have already been closed, Lacson added.Limited attendance at weddings, baptisms and funerals will be strictly enforced, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The swabbing of persons who die with COVID-19 symptoms will also be enforced, he said.This is to prevent the spread of COVID-...

Mayor Rex Jalando-on ordered the temporary closure of the three City Hall main buildings in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, Tuesday, April 13, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.Jalando-on said he ordered their closure for disinfection after his secretary at the mayor’s office, who is symptomatic, tested positive for COVID-19.The city hall buildings will reopen on Thursday, he said.COVID-19 testing of persons who came in contact with the secretary in underway, he added.The mayor said he and other city government employees have gone into isolation while they wait for their COVID-19 test results.Jalando-on in Executive Order 19, Series of 2021, directed the Sanitary Division of the La Carlota City Health Office to disinfect all offices in the three buildings.All em...

Marton Cui, Negros Occidental provincial consultant on hospital operations, was shot to death as he was leaving his office in San Carlos City Monday night, April 12.*Screenshot from Aksyon Radyo's FB live videoMarton Cui, Negros Occidental provincial consultant on hospital operations, was declared dead at the San Carlos City Hospital at 9 p.m. Monday, April 12, an hour after he was shot as he was leaving his office, Col. Romy Palgue, Negros Occidental police director said.Cui was leaving his office at Emerald Arcade, Barangay Palampas, San Carlos City, at 8 p.m. and was about to board his vehicle when he was shot by a long range shooter, he said.Witnesses said the shooter was inside a Starex van when he fired at Cui.Cui reportedly was shot in the chest.The gunman escap...

The criteria sent by from Local Government Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III for Negros Occidental to qualify to be placed under General Community Quarantine.*Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he was informed Monday, April 12, that Negros Occidental cannot be placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) because its COVID-19 numbers have not reached the required level for that classification.“But Negros is not safe now…the situation is already alarming and the numbers are rising, why do we have to wait for it to worsen before we can impose GCQ?” he asked.Negros Occidental is currently under Modified General Community Quarantine. Lacson on Friday asked the national Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to place Negros Occidental under GCQ so more stringent measu...

The Department of Health 6 graph that shows the rise in COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas.*COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas continue to rise at a faster rate and may still peak in mid to third week of April, Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, Department of Health 6 infectious disease unit head, said Monday, April 12.However, they have no test results yet to show that a new variant has hit the region, she said.Concern over the rising number of cases in the region prompted Iloilo officials on Sunday to suggest that stricter travel rules between Negros and Panay be imposed.However, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas Monday said stricter travel restrictions between Negros and Panay may not be implemented as both islands still remain under the same quarantine classifications.The entire Wes...

Provincial consultant Alfredo Benitez (right) arrived on his private jet with the vaccines for Negros Occidental and Bacolod City Monday, April 12.*More Sinovac vaccines for Negros Occidental and Bacolod City arrived Monday, April 12.Former Rep. Alfredo Benitez flew in 11,400 Sinovac vaccines for Negros Occidental and 3,000 for Bacolod City from the Department of Health in Manila on his private jet that landed at 4:46 p.m. at the Bacolod Silay Airport.More vaccines are coming, said Benitez, who is also Negros Occidental provincial consultant on economic affairs.Benitez said he offered to fly in the vaccines so the province and city would get them faster.He also pointed out that in the past the vaccine allocation for Negros was given to the other provinces in Western Vis...