Business

Jan272026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

Ministry of Social Services and Development-BARMM partners with GCash to expand cashless disbursement under FAST Project, roll out Bangsamoro Cards

The Ministry of Social Services and Development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MSSD-BARMM) has partnered with GCash, the Philippines’ leading finance super app and largest cashless ecosystem, to expand its cashless disbursement system under the Financial Assistance System Transformation (FAST) Project, an initiative designed to make the distribution of social assistance faster, more efficient, and more transparent for beneficiaries across the region.The Ministry of Social Services and Development–BARMM partners with GCash to expand cashless disbursement under the FAST Project, enabling faster and more accessible delivery of social assistance through Bangsamoro Cards powered by GCashWhile MSSD-BARMM has already begun transitioning to digital payouts, the par...

Jan272026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

Grab, MOVE IT Strengthen On-trip Protection with Expanded COCOLIFE Partnership

Business

Grab Philippines and motorcycle taxi platform MOVE IT have expanded their emergency insurance support with COCOLIFE, widening hospital assistance and financial protection for both rider-partners and passengers in a bid to make coverage more accessible and comprehensive for users of the on-demand mobility services.Through the deepened partnership, rider-partners and passengers gain 24/7 access to a wider network of more than 700 COCOLIFE-accredited hospitals nationwide for emergency situations involving a Grab or MOVE IT ride.The expanded hospital assistance with COCOLIFE strengthens Grab Philippines and MOVE IT’s protection ecosystem by addressing the most time-critical gap in on-trip incidents: emergency care and hospitalization support for both rider-partners and passengers. ...

Jan262026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Guv calls for nat’l government action as artificial sweetener imports surge

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Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson (second from right) at Congress' public consultation on the sugar industry last week*Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is calling on the national government to protect the local sugar industry and public health amid the increasing importation of artificial sweeteners.The sugar industry of Negros Occidental continues to face serious pressures that call for thoughtful and balanced policy responses, Lacson said in a statement issued Monday, Jan. 26.“As the country’s major sugar-producing province, we are particularly concerned about recent developments in the local sugar and sweetener market and their implications on economic sustainability, consumer protection, and public health”, he said.“We respectfully stress the importance of balanced reg...

Jan262026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

Bacolod City, DOE sign partnership for waste-to-energy, solar programs

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Energy Secretary Sharon Garin and Mayor Greg Gasataya (2nd and 3rd from left) after the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement witnessed by Bacolod Environment and Natural Resources Office head Allyn Luv Dignadice on Monday.*The Bacolod City government and the Department of Energy have taken a major step toward sustainable urban development with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for Waste-to-Energy (WTE) development, along with the launch of the “Solar Solutions for Government: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Public Buildings” program on Monday, Jan 26.The solar program aims to institutionalize energy efficiency in the public sector by deploying technologies such as light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems, inverter-type air-conditioning units, smart m...

Jan262026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

NACUSIP calls for release of Sugar Board minutes

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Ronnie Baldonado file photoCiting a crisis of transparency within the industry, sugar workers and small-scale farmers have formally petitioned the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to release the minutes of meetings involving controversial sugar orders.The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP) and the NACUSIP Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council in a letter Monday, Jan. 26, requested full disclosure from Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel and Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona of the minutes of Sugar Order No. 8 (Series of 2025), as well as Sugar Orders No. 2 and 3 (Series of 2026).The request follows a public consultation held on January 23, where stak...

Jan232026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Losses in sugar revenues ‘could exceed P20B’

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Rep. Manuel Frederick Ko, Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Senator Francis Pangilinan, Rep. Mark Enverga, Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson. Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer and Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (l-r) at the public consultation.* If low millgate sugar prices remain unchecked, losses in revenues to the sugar industry could exceed P20 billion by June 2026, Rafael Coscolluela, former Sugar Regulatory Administrator, said on Friday, Jan. 23. Coscolluela was one of a battery of speakers from planters, millers, and labor groups who spoke at a public consultation on the decline in sugar prices led by Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform chairperson Sen. Francis Pangilinan and House Committee on Agriculture and ...

Jan222026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Panay sugar farmers stage protest ahead of congressional inquiry

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The Panay farmers protesting in Passi, Iloilo, on Thursday.* About 1,000 farmers from 14 planters associations in Panay Island held a protest rally against low sugar and molasses prices in Passi City, Iloilo, on Thursday, Jan. 22, ahead of the congressional hearing on the plight of sugar industry on Friday.Sugar leaders are hoping something good will come out of the joint Senate and House inquiry on the decline in millgate sugar at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.“I hope something good will come out from it that will help the sugar industry survive,” Enrique Rojas, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president, said.“For the record UNIFED hopes they will act on its request to pass a bill enforcing crop loans from all banks so that the farmer...

Jan222026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

P55M slaughterhouse inaugurated in Murcia

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The inauguration of the slaughterhouse in Brgy. Alegria, Murcia.* Richard Malihan photoNegros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson inaugurated the P55 million Municipal Abattoir in Brgy. Alegria, Murcia, on Thursday, Jan. 22, marking a significant upgrade to the town’s agricultural infrastructure.The state-of-the-art slaughterhouse was designed to ensure the sanitary processing of livestock, safeguarding public health by meeting national food safety standards and improving the quality of meat products, the governor said.The project was implemented through the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), with shared funding from the World Bank, the national government, and the provincial government of Negros Occidental.The establishment of the...

Jan222026 by Nanette GuadalquiverNo Comments

Tinagong Dagat’ in northern Negros open to trekkers until Feb. 15

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Tinagong Dagat within Mount Mandalagan inside the Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP) as shown during the dry season. *Photo courtesy of NNNP/Aaron PitogoThe Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will allow trekkers to visit the popular Tinagong Dagat within the Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP) from Jan. 22 to Feb. 15, before its temporary closure starting Feb. 16.In an advisory on Thursday, Protected Area Superintendent Ma. Gina Consolacion Gerangaya said applications for mountaineering permits to Danao/Tinagong Dagat will be accepted at the NNNP-Protected Area Management Office satellite site at the DENR compound in Barangay 39 in this city.Interested individuals or organized groups may submit their applications, she added.“Tinagong Dagat shall be plac...

Jan212026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

Sugar farmers to hold rally on low sugar, molasses prices

Business

File photo courtesy of Butch Bacaoco*To highlight their grave concern over low sugar and molasses prices, sugar farmers and their families, spearheaded by the Jalasig Sugarcane Planters Association, other planters associations and other sugar industry stakeholders in Panay, will hold a rally on Thursday, January 22, at the Passi Public Plaza.“We are holding this rally to emphasize the severity of our plight. The persistently low mill-gate prices of sugar and molasses have resulted in widespread financial losses to us. These current price levels threaten the survival of farming households and the sustainability of the sugar industry,” Jalasig president Hernando Y. Divinagracia Jr. said in a press release on Wednesday, Jan. 21.“Unregulated and excessive importation, coupled with ...