Marchel P. Espina

Bacolod City only has two new coronavirus cases today, October 27, the lowest number since July, City Administrator Em Ang said.Ang, executive director of the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said that one of the new cases was a repeat or the result of a confirmatory swab test.“This is the lowest daily record since July 16. We are definitely on track to significantly reducing the case count versus last month,” she said.“I am hoping and praying to God that this continues,” Ang added.She reminded Bacolod residents to continue wearing masks, washing hands, practicing physical distancing, and avoiding crowds.Earlier, the national government sent top officials, including Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, and E...

DA-6 photoHog raisers from Western Visayas (WV) have shipped P255.2 million worth of live pigs to Luzon from June this year as the area was affected by the dreaded African swine fever, Remelyn Recoter, Department of Agriculture-Region 6 director, said Monday, October 26.Since WV is 151 percent self-sufficient in swine, based on the second quarter data of the Philippine Statistics Authority, local raisers with the intervention of the different local and Manila traders and various local government units in the region were able to market about 23,367 pigs worth P255.2 million to Luzon, Recoter said, citing the report of Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI)-Veterinary Quarantine Service Region 6."Our farmers have improved their income as they ship their surplus production to ASF red zon...

Persons who need to secure medical certificates in order to be issued with a “Travel Authority” document will be required to register in the Bacolod Contact Tracing (BaCTrac) System starting October 26, in accordance with a new order from the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC- TF).This new health protocol was recommended by the EOC-TF, the central body in Bacolod that collects and harmonizes relevant data that are transformed into policies against COVID-19, a press release from the city government said.In line with this new order from the EOC, City Health Office (CHO) officer-in-charge Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr. issued Memo Order No. 102320-01.The said CHO memo discourages chest X-ray as a requirement for the medical certificate, as it “does not detect COVID...

A baby girl drowned in a creek near her home in Barangay Guinpana-an, Moises Padilla, Sunday morning, October 25.Reynald Horegue, head of the Moises Padilla Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the one-year and three-month-old Princess Joy Eustañio was left under the care of her eight 8-year-old sibling, who momentarily left her unattended to get something.When the sibling returned, the baby was nowhere to be found. The child thought that Princess was taken by their aunts. When they found out that nobody took the baby, they searched for her at the creek, since their home was located near the water.Horegue said that their team and the barangay officials immediately responded to the scene.Later, the body of the baby was fished out of the water a few meters from...

The Bacolod-Silay Airport (BSA) is rolling out a coronavirus contact tracing system for its employees, passengers, and port users as part of its measures to curb the spread of the virus and to ensure the safety of everyone.In a statement Friday, October 23, BSA said it will implement the mandatory use of the mobile application Traze within the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) offices and facilities under the directive issued by the Department of Transportation on October 9.This is not only for CAAP and BSA personnel but for all airport users and passengers, it added.It said that the Traze mobile application is “a nationwide and unified contact tracing app that automates manual contact tracing by using Quick Response (QR) code scanning without the use of Blueto...

Photo courtesy of Frank CarbonThe business community in Bacolod City is calling on the local government to put “more effort” into its recovery action plan to stimulate economic activities.Frank Carbon, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer, said they sought a meeting with the city officials “to ask for an update on where we are in the economic recovery effort and what has been done.”But during the meeting on Wednesday, October 21, it was lawyer John Orola, the city’s special consultant on trade and investment, along with lawyer Jesus Hinlo Jr., Land Bank of the Philippines director, who talked with the business community.The city government was supposed to update the business community on its economic recovery plan, but the latter ended up p...

The city government of San Carlos City has restricted non-essential travel following the reported local transmission of coronavirus in the locality.Mayor Renato Gustilo, in an executive order signed on October 18, said that local transmission was recently reported in the city, and if that trend continues, the local healthcare system might not be able to cater to confirmed positive patients. He added that government and private hospitals have already refused admission of patients due to the influx of Covid-19 positive individuals.He said the Incident Management Team has recommended imposing border restrictions on certain activities and regulation of movement of residents to contain the spread of the virus.In the EO, citizens are enjoined to stay home except for frontliners, esse...

Twenty-one local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental have opened up their localities to leisure travel for their residents starting Monday, October 19.These are the cities of Bago, Cadiz, Escalante, Himamaylan, Sagay, San Carlos, and Talisay, and the municipalities of Binalbagan, Calatrava, Candoni, Cauayan, Hinigaran, Isabela, La Castellana, Manapla, Moises Padilla, Murcia, Pontevedra, Pulupandan, Salvador Benedicto, and Valladolid.On the other hand, 10 localities have remained closed for tourists and leisure travel. These are the cities of Kabankalan, La Carlota, Silay, Sipalay, and Victorias, and the municipalities of EB Magalona, Hinobaan, Ilog, San Enrique, and Toboso.Provincial Tourism Officer Jennylind Cordero said that resorts and other accommodation facilities...

PDEA photoA high-value target was arrested by authorities in a drug bust on Sunday, October 18, at Barangay 5 in San Carlos City.Nabbed was Joemarie "Tata Babor" Babor, who was listed as the Top 10 Provincial Targetlist of the police.The operation, conducted by the operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the San Carlos City Police station, also led to the confiscation of suspected shabu weighing around 10 grams with an estimated value of P68,000.The suspect, who was under the custody of the police, will face drug charges.*