Marchel P. Espina

Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla complained anew that members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) have yet to approve the town’s proposed P270 million annual budget six months after it was submitted to the council.Montilla, at a press conference Monday, April 11, said the town has to “figure out a way in solving these problems while the raging war of the unapproved budget goes on.”Their problems continue to mount after the mayor’s office in the municipal hall was razed by fire, which left P100,000 in damages, on April 7.Arson investigators, who were also at the press conference, dismissed claims that the mayor’s office was set on fire, stressing that the cause of the fire was electrical in nature.Montilla lamented that at the start of the year, when the municipal hall was being renov...

Photo from Lakad ng mga Pamilyang Magsasaka Laban sa Gutom at Kahirapan FBThe Sumilao farmers, who made the news in 2007 after fighting for their ancestral domain, continued their march caravan in Negros Occidental on Thursday, April 7.Noland Peñas, one of the leaders of Sumilao farmers and chairperson of PAKISAMA, said they passed through Negros Occidental because it has a huge agrarian reform program backlog. Many beneficiaries already have certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs), but have yet to be installed in their lands, he said.“We want to inspire them, and share our experiences being the Sumilao farmers who now own our land,” he said.He also said that local farmers were affected by landlord resistance, as there are still many farm workers struggling against thi...

Isabela municipal government job order workers protest over their unpaid salaries on Wednesday, February 15.*Contributed photoClad in black shirts, several job order (JO) workers of the Isabela municipal government trooped to the town’s administrative building on Wednesday, February 16, to protest against their unpaid salaries for almost two months because “gutom na kami (we’re already hungry).”This came after the Sangguniang Bayan members failed to approve the town’s 2022 annual general budget, which affected the operations of the municipal government, including the release of salaries to around 440 JO workers.Currently, the town is running on a reenacted budget, Mayor Irene Montilla said, adding that they are “having difficulty” implementing programs.The non-approval of t...

LCCB photoLa Consolacion College Bacolod (LCCB) School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Interior Design produced 13 new architects in the recent Architect Licensure Examination given by the Board of Architecture.The examination was held in Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, San Fernando, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga on January 21 and 23.The 13 Negrenses were among the 1,370 out of 2,205 who passed the exam, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced.LCCB is the only school in Negros Occidental to offer architecture.Architect Roberto Aguillon, program head of the LCCB Bachelor of Science Architecture, said: “They are a determined group. Most of them went through a lot: lockdowns, several postponements, the difficulty posed by Odette's d...

PDEA photoNever underestimate the power of smell.A K9 narcotics detection dog led authorities to the discovery of P20.4 million worth of illegal drugs at the BREDCO Port at the Reclamation Area in Brgy. 10, Bacolod City, Monday afternoon, January 24.Arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)- Negros Occidental were Aslanie Usman, and Jalanie Ambulo, both of Brgy. 31. They were said to be high-value individuals.During the random K9 Panelling and Profiling Interdiction operation at the port, the K9 detected the illegal contraband wrapped in vacuum-sealed tea bags and were hidden inside the compartment of a Toyota Corolla Altis.The roll-on, roll-off vessel just came from the Dumangas port in Iloilo province.Aside from the recovery of three kilos worth of...