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Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District) on Thursday, February 23, said she expects the Lower House to approve the bill seeking the creation of the Negros Island Region (NIR) and then they will lobby for its passage in the Senate as well.She said with the House Committee on Appropriations approval of the NIR bill, it will be endorsed to the Committee on Rules for scheduling for second reading in plenary.If there are no objections it can then be passed on third and final reading and forwarded to the Senate, Alvarez added.The Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday approved the allocation of funds, which will be taken from the Department of the Interior and Local Government budget, for the Technical Working Group (TWG) to formulate the NIR roadmap, she said.The DILG w...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has ordered the 60-day preventive suspension of the former acting treasurer of Isabela, Negros Occidental, and formally charged her for administrative offenses of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and malversation of public funds.Nenette M. Escarda, who had been reassigned to the Provincial Treasurer’s Office at the Capitol in Bacolod City, was served her suspension order on Thursday, February 23, Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr. said.She was preventively suspended because as Cashier 1 at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office she has access to the personnel and audit examination files of Isabela. She was in a position where she could exert undue influence or pressure on the witnesses or tamper evidence against her, Lacson said. ...

Mayor Renato Gustilo visits a patient with amoebiasis at the San Carlos City Hospital*Mayor Renato Gustilo has declared a state of health emergency in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, amid “an alarming rise in cases of amoebiasis”.There were 190 cases of amoebiasis reported in 10 San Carlos barangays from January to February, Gustilo said on Thursday, February 23.About 90 of the cases occurred in January and 100 in February, he said.Barangays Buluangan and Rizal had the most number of reported cases, he said.There were lapses in the reporting of the cases to him by the City Health Office or he could have declared the health emergency earlier, he said.Gustilo said he visited the San Carlos City Hospital to check on the patients confined for amoebiasis and to ensur...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has appointed an officer-in-charge of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, the Capitol announced Thursday, February 23.Appointed OIC is Social Welfare Officer IV Ma. Gerla Espinosa Sario.She was appointed in view of the mandatory retirement of Merle L. Garcia as Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer, Lacson said.“The order shall take effect immediately and shall remain in full force until revoked in writing,” Lacson said.*

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared Friday, February 24, a special non-working day throughout the country.Proclamation No. 167, signed for the president by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Thursday, said the EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary, which is a special non-working day throughout the country is set on Saturday, February 25.However, to enable our countrymen to avail of the benefits of a longer weekend pursuant to the principle of holiday economics, the celebration of EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary may be moved from February 25 to February 24 provided that the historical significance of EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary is maintained, it said.The Department of Labor and Employment was directed to issue the appropriate circular to imple...

A call center agent and an e-trike driver were killed in separate vehicular accidents in Bacolod City on Wednesday and Thursday, February 22 and 23.Erlynor Verdad Colango, 28, of Brgy Cabatangan, Talisay City, was crossing Araneta Street fronting Teletech in Brgy Singcang Airport, Bacolod, when she was hit by a motorcycle driven by Rex Evrile Feria Pedrajas at 9:50 p.m. Thursday, February 22.Pedrajas, on board a Motorstar MSX 150 motorcycle, was headed north when he accidentally hit Colango who was declared dead on arrival at the Bacolod South General Hospital, the police reported.The suspect was detained at Police Station 8.Romulo Durable, 61, an e-trike driver, died in an accident at Burgos Street in Brgy. Estefania, Bacolod City, 6:15 a.m. Thursday, February 23.The p...

The National Economic and Development Authority map of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project*The construction of the P189.53 billion Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Island Bridges Project will start in 2025, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in Western Visayas announced on Thursday, February 23.The construction will start in 2025 once the Detailed Engineering Design (DED) is completed on schedule and approved for funding and implementation by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and the NEDA Board, it said in a post on its website.The project received all the required local endorsements of the provincial, municipal, and city councils of all affected areas, it said.The Regional Development Council VI then passed Resolution No. 33, series of...

Carlos Hilado Memorial State University (CHMSU) and the Philippine Association of Functional Jaw Orthopedics – TMJ. (PAFJO-TMJ) launched their joint 19th National Dental Health Month celebration with the theme “Ululupon kita Magkari, Magyuhom, kag Magsinadya” at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) Wednesday, February 22, 2023.Twenty-eight delegates of PAFJO-TMJ arrived at the Bacolod City Government Center for the launching event, the first of several activities lined up until Friday, February 24, a press release from CHMSU said.Secretary to the Mayor Joseph Karol Chiu welcomed the delegates on behalf of Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.Chiu cited the LGU’s active involvement in eradicating illegal dental procedures performed by unlicensed individuals in the ci...

DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban at a press conference Wednesday.*RTVM photoThe move to import around 450,000 metric tons of sugar by the Department of Agriculture (DA) is aimed at managing inflation and building a buffer stock that will adequately meet the country’s sugar requirements, a senior Agriculture official said on Wednesday, February 22.In a press briefing in Malacañang Palace, DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban said they acted on the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to immediately address inflation due to supply issues, a press release from the Presidential Communications Office said.“In response to the directive of the President to address inflation and create a buffer stock and given that sugar as one of the components of most comm...

Bureau of Customs seized smuggled sugar*Leaders of the sugar industry in a joint statement on Wednesday, February 22, called on the House of Representatives and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct full-blown investigations into the blatant “smuggling” of sugar into the country.“We condemn in the strongest terms any and all acts of sugar smuggling, which constitute economic sabotage that wreak havoc on the livelihood of thousands of sugarcane farmers, 90 percent of whom are agrarian reform beneficiaries and marginal farmers who rely solely on sugar for their sustenance,” they said.The statement was signed by Enrique D. Rojas - National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president, Aurelio Gerardo J. Valderrama Jr. – Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc. preside...