Carla P. Gomez

The surge in COVID-19 cases has caused the temporary lockdown of more seats of government and health facilities in Negros Occidental.Mayor Neil Lizares said the new Talisay City Hall will be closed on Monday and Tuesday while contact tracing and disinfection are underway.An employee assigned at the Talisay City Public Market tested positive for COVID-19 and contact tracing showed that the person had gone to the Talisay City Hall, he said.Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson, who tested positive for COVID-19, ordered the lockdown of the Himamaylan City Hall, City Health Office and Barangay Health Centers for seven days starting Saturday to prevent the spread of COVID-19.Mayor Rhumyla Nicor Mangilimutan said the La Castellana municipal hall will be closed from Monday to Wednesday fo...

Bacolod DRRM photoThere were 364 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who arrived at the Bacolod Silay Airport on three flights Sunday, April 11, and more are expected this week.They were swabbed for COVID-19 tests on arrival and allowed to go on home quarantine under local government unit supervision, Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz and Bacolod Councilor Israel Salanga said.OFWs are not included in the moratorium on travel to Western Visayas and local governments cannot subject them to facility quarantine unless they test positive for COVID-19.Diaz said 228 Negrense OFWs arrived Sunday.Salanga said 136 OFWs arrived in Bacolod City Sunday and they were informed that more will be arriving until Wednesday.*

Curfew in Bacolod will remain from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and no request has been made for a change in the city’s quarantine status, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Sunday, April 11.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has ordered a provincewide curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. effective Monday, April 12, to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases, but Bacolod City that is a highly urbanized city is not covered by the order.“Bacolod’s curfew will remain from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., what we are doing is strictly implementing it,” he said.The police, barangay captains and Task Force Disiplina headed by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran have been instructed to strictly enforce curfew and ensure drinking of liquor at restaurants, hotels and eateries is only from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Leonardia said.“We ar...

Bacolod PIO file photoDr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center deputy for medical data and analysis, said he has recovered from COVID-19.Sorongon was reacting to netizens’ posts questioning why he was spotted at a drug store in Bacolod City when he has COVID-19.Sorongon said his day of exposure to the virus was March 25 and he was discharged from the hospital on April 11, which covers 17 days.“I’m discharged and recovered from COVID,” he said.Sorongon said he was at the drug store to buy his medicines.*

Provincial Consultant Alfredo Benitez, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, Rep. Francisco Benitez and Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante (l-r) at the emergency meeting Friday, April 9.*Richard Malihan photoGovernor Eugenio Jose Lacson asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Friday, April 9, to place Negros Occidental under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) until April 30 to curb the surge of COVID-19 cases in the province.GCQ safety measures such as border control, modified home quarantine and swabbing and facility quarantine of incoming travelers have proven to be effective safeguards in the past in protecting Negros Occidental from the dreaded pandemic, Lacson said.“We on the ground and on the frontlines fighting again...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has ordered the imposition of a provincewide curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. in Negros Occidental and the mandatory registration of all individuals in the Safe, Swift and Smart Passage (S-Pass) Travel Management System.The orders came after an emergency meeting of the governor with the mayors of Negros Occidental at the Capitol in Bacolod City, Friday, April 9, to curb the rising COVID-19 cases in the province.In Executive Order 21-22 Series of 2021 Lacson said all the local chief executives agreed to the 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew to limit mass gatherings and curb the unprecedented increase in COVID-19 cases.The provincewide curfew will start at 12 a.m. Monday, April 12.Exempted from the curfew are persons in need of emergency services, personnel in carg...

Himamaylan Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson and Vice Mayor Justin Gatuslao, and two more officials of Murcia town tested positive for COVID-19 Friday, April 9.Tongson said he has a slight fever and is on home quarantine.Gatuslao, who is on home quarantine, is believed to have been infected with the virus after he came in contact with a Binalbagan resident who may have attended a cockfight, Tongson said.Gatuslao had himself tested for COVID-19 after the Binalbagan resident tested positive, the mayor added.Four other Himamaylan councilors are waiting for their COVID-19 test results, he said.Meanwhile, 25 more Murcia residents, including two officials, tested positive for COVID-19 Friday, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The two are Councilor Bebot Gomez and M...

The Bago City Hospital was placed under total lockdown Friday, April 9, until further notice.The lockdown was imposed after several staff of the hospital are COVID symptomatic, Dr. Rey Pacillan, City Hospital OIC chief, said.A clerk, nurse, and four ward patients at the Bago City Hospital tested positive for the virus, he said.The hospital will be disinfected and the rest of the staff will undergo rapid tests for COVID-19, Pacillan added.The hospital may reopen on April 19, he said.The outpatient and emergency services of the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital were also temporarily suspended effective Friday until April 12.The services were suspended as the out-patient and emergency nurses and physicians are under quarantine, Negros Occidental Provincial Admi...

Archie Alipalo photoMembers of 1Sambayan Negros Occidental Chapter signed a manifesto on Friday, April 9, to support the fielding of a common opposition slate for president, vice president and senators and to work for their victory in the 2022 polls.The signing took place at the official launching of the 1Sambayan Negros Occidental chapter, which is part of a national broad based coalition of pro-democratic forces, at the Grand Hall of Acacia Hotel in Bacolod City.Former chief Justice Antonio Carpio, who congratulated former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela via Zoom for organizing the first 1Sambayan provincial chapter, said it was a truly historic occasion.“On this Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor), brave Filipinos are gathered here today because we want to sa...

Archie Alipalo photo“I am hoping we will have free and fair elections (in 2022), but I have not discounted the possibility of a no election scenario,” former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela said Friday, April 9.Coscolluela, a convenor of 1Sambayan that is fielding a single opposition slate in 2022, said there are speculations that the government is “mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic on purpose so they can declare a state of emergency and say no elections will be held.”He also said that the lack of visibility of President Rodrigo Duterte is a very real issue.“After a certain period of time if you are unable to serve, you must let the public know what the problem is. Right now we don’t know who is running the country,” he said.The president or his minions ar...