Carla P. Gomez

The House Committee on Agriculture is set to conduct hearings on a bill filed by Rep. Manuel Sagarbarria (Neg. Or., 2nd District) seeking amendments to the Sugar Development Act to insulate the domestic sugar market from undue saturation of imported sugar in order to stabilize prices and to foster competition among local sugar producers.Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District), Committee on Agriculture vice chairman, said the hearings are expected to be held soon.The SIDA of 2015 or Republic Act 10659 was authored by his brother, then Rep. Alfredo Benitez.Sagarbarria in House Bill 2971 seeks to amend Section 11 of Republic Act 10659 to ensure a proportionate allocation of the SIDA funds based on productivity and the strengthening of the Sugar Regulatory Administration's...

Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 meted life terms on five Bacolod residents. (Use of photo with prior permission of owner)Five Bacolod residents facing illegal drug charges were sentenced to life imprisonment on National Judgment Day, today, November 20.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 meted life terms on Randy Trinidad Hamantoc, alias “Bull Jack”, and his wife, Ma. Rogelina Guarino Hamantoc, alias "Duckin"; Mitchell John Alim Sindol and Raymund Justo Alunan; and Jan Gania Marañon.The Hamantocs were found guilty of possession of 113.0222 grams of shabu inside their residence at Gold Crest Subdivision, Barangay Bata, Bacolod City, on Sept. 3, 2019, and were sentenced to each suffer the ...

The Sangguniang Panlungsod is considering reducing curfew hours in Bacolod for the Christmas season, while Mayor Evelio Leonardia is hoping the city will be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) in December.Bishop Patricio Buzon earlier appealed to Leonardia to shorten Bacolod’s curfew hours by an hour to enable the holding of the traditional Aguinaldo dawn masses this Christmas.The bishop suggested that the existing curfew hours of 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. be shortened to 3 a.m. so that the Diocese can offer more early morning masses to reasonably accommodate churchgoers and prevent overcrowding.Leonardia said he endorsed the request of the bishop to the SP since the 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew is covered by an ordinance.He is also hoping the status of Bacolod wi...

Mayor Pedro Zayco said 17 more tested positive today, November 20, for COVID-19 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, including the city engineer and 10 of his co-workers, prompting the closure of the city hall.Earlier, seven Kabankalan City Engineers Office employees, including an assistant city engineer who died, and one from the City Assessor’s Office also tested positive for COVID-19.Zayco said he and the city budget officer had themselves swabbed for COVID-19 tests since they had met with the city engineer to discuss the CEO’s supplemental budget about 10 days earlier.The mayor said he also ordered the Kabankalan City Hall shutdown for disinfection.Zayco is mulling the possibility of having all 200 employees at the Kabankalan City Hall tested for COVID-19 that will ne...

Seven more personnel of the Kabankalan City Engineer’s Office (CEO) and an employee of the City Assessor’s Office have tested positive for COVID-19, Judson Cabalatongan of the Kabankalan Inter-Agency Task Force said today, November 19.He said the Kabankalan CEO and Assessor’s Office remain closed.The CEO personnel were tested for COVID-19 after an assistant city engineer who tested positive for COVID-19 died, he said.The Assessor’s Office employee who tested positive for COVID-19 is the best friend of the engineer who died, Cabalatongan added.A second batch of CEO employees will be tested for COVID-19 tomorrow, November 20, and if the results are positive contact tracing will be conducted that would determine if more Kabankalan City government offices should be closed, he a...

The Sangguniang Panlungsod Wednesday, November 18, approved the allocation of P19 million for the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) of Bacolod City government employees, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said today, November 19.The Department of the Interior and Local Government granted Bacolod City authority to grant the PBB, which is an incentive mechanism to reward local government employees for good governance and meritorious performance as an LGU.Familiaran said employees of the City Health Office, City Treasurer’s Office, City Planning and Development Office, and City Assessor’s Office will receive PBBs equivalent to 65 percent of their basic salary as of December 2019.This is because the four offices received Seals of Good Local Governance, he said.The rest of the city employ...

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is calling on Mayor Evelio Leonardia to study the possibility of constructing a city-owned public hospital, Councilor Renecito Novero said today, November 19.Novero said he presented a motion on the floor Wednesday requesting the mayor to study the possibility of putting up a city hospital from any available sources of funds.Opposition Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. said the subsidiary resolution of Novero was passed in lieu of his original resolution appealing to the mayor to consider using available credit in banks to build a city-owned public hospital for Bacolod.He said there was barely any difference in his resolution and that of Novero, except for the source of funds.The administration councilors just don’t want to make reference to the...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson holds up the MOU he signed. Richard Malihan photosNegros Occidental and two other provinces signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) this morning, November 19, for a close to P900 million Safe Water project.Palawan, Negros Occidental, and Sarangani all face recurring water shortages amid rising water demand, degraded watersheds, and inadequate access to water supply and sanitation services.Through the five-year Safe Water project, USAID will provide technical assistance to help communities in these provinces gain reliable access to clean water, USAID Acting Mission Director Patrick Wesner said.Wesner led the signing of the MOU with Negros Occidental Governor Euge...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has endorsed the draft of the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) between the provincial government and the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for approval.The CNA will benefit the 3,250 employees of the provincial government, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, November 18.The Provincial Legal Office approved the draft CNA and the governor endorsed it to the SP in order to be granted authority to sign the agreement, Diaz said.It is scheduled for approval by the SP during its next regular session Tuesday next week, he added.The approval will enable the granting of a CNA bonus of not less than P25,000 depending on the savings from the maintenance and other operating expen...