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Millgate sugar prices were still below P3, 000 per Lkg this week but Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Azcona on Friday, October 6, said he is hopeful it will increase.He said that millgate sugar prices in some mills increased on Wednesday and Thursday, October 4 and 5, which is promising.The prices this week were: Victorias Milling Co. in Victorias City – P2,803.35, First Farmers Holding Corp. in Talisay City – P2,789.90, Hawaiian Philippine Co. in Silay City – 2,788.88, Central Azucarera de La Carlota – P2,721.92, Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Co. in Binalbagan - P2,720.28,and Southern Negros Development Corp. in Kabankalan City - P2,710, Azcona said.The average millgate sugar prices in the Visayas were at P2,720.48 per Lkg on October 1, P2,745.06 – September 24, P2,702.73 – Se...

A student accidentally bumped a motorcycle that resulted in the death of a couple along the highway in Brgy. Lag-asan, Bago City, Negros Occidental, on Thursday, October 5.Police records showed that a 22-year-old student from Brgy. Ma-ao, Bago City, driving a pickup accidentally collided with the motorcycle.The police did not disclose the names of the victims who were farmers from Purok Balaton, Brgy. Pacol, Bago City.The suspect was at Crossing Ubay in Brgy. Ma-ao and he failed to notice the green motorcycle carrying the couple.The motorcycle was thrown about 55 steps from the point of impact while the victims riding on it fell 10 steps away from the vehicle, the police said.Both victims were declared dead at the Bago City Hospital.The suspect voluntarily surrender...

Candidate No. 5 Geralyn Joy Basto*MBM photoAfter two tries, this Miss Bacolod MassKara (MBM) candidate finally has an official contestant’s sash as she competes in the biggest pageant in Bacolod City this year.Geralyn Joy Basto, 20, a student from the University of St. La Salle (USLS), brings to the MBM stage her advocacy on sex education.“Last year, I was not prepared and it was my first time to speak on stage around many people but now I can say I'm fully equipped,” she said during the MBM Press Presentation on October 1.In her video introduction, Basto said she was left by her biological parents when she was 10 months old but it did not stop her from doing the things she loves like modeling.When she was asked how she can promote Bacolod to the world, she said the gov...

The Army’s 62nd Infantry (Unifier) Battalion seized two high-powered firearms in a clash with about 10 New People’s Army rebels at Sitio Capaklan, Barangay Santol, Binalbagan in Negros Occidental on Friday, October 6.The firefight lasted for five minutes and the NPA rebels are believed “to have sustained an undetermined number of casualties, as evident from the heavy bloodstains discovered along their withdrawal route”, 1Lt. Mary Liza Joy de Guzman, 62 IB civil military operations officer, said.Seized from the encounter were a M-60 general purpose machine gun, .30 caliber Bolt action sniper rifle, rifle grenade, three backpacks, medical paraphernalia, assorted ammunitions, subversive documents, and personal belongings, she said.The rebels who figured in the encounter were membe...

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at Camp General Macario Peralta Jr. in Jamindan, Capiz.*President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday, October 6, expressed optimism that government troops are capable of making Western Visayas “insurgency-free.”During a situation briefing with military officials at Camp General Macario Peralta Jr. in Jamindan, Capiz, Marcos said eradicating insurgency in Region 6 is “achievable,” considering the decreasing number of communist groups since 2019.“We must keep on going and we’ll wait for your invitation to come back when you declare this area insurgent-free… I think it’s achievable,” he said.Maj. Gen. Marion Sison, Philippine Army’s 3rd infantry Division (3ID) commander, briefed the President that remaining armed groups in the region are taking...

Jetro Nicolas Lozada, Rep. Francisco Benitez, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Jose Ma. Gaston (l-r) after the signing of the deed of usufruct.*Richard Malihan photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson signed a Deed of Usufruct with Balay Negrense Development Corporation for the conservation, repair, and restoration of the Balay Negrense Museum in Silay City, Thursday afternoon, October 5.Lacson and Jose Ma. Gaston, who represented the Balay Negrense Development Corp., signed the Deed of Usufruct at the Governor’s Office, together with Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District), and Jetro Nicolas Lozada, Acting Chief Operating Officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.The ceremonial signing was witnessed by Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Di...

The Negros Occidental Pearl Award winners*Five Negros Occidental Local Government Units won Pearl Awards 2023 at the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines Inc. (ATOP) national convention in Boracay, Aklan, Thursday night, October 5.Provincial Tourism Officer Cheryl Decena said the winners were Don Salvador Benedicto, Silay City, Sipalay City, Cadiz City and Bago City.The following are the awards won by the five LGUs:DON SALVADOR BENEDICTOGrand WinnerBest Tourism Promotion VideoSILAY CITY1st Runner-upBest Tourism Promotion Brochure2nd Runner-upBest Community-Based Tourism2nd Runner-upBest Cultural FestivalFinalist for:Best Program for Culture and ArtsBest Religious Festival AwardBest Tourism-Oriented LGUSIPALAY CITY1st Runner-upBest Tourism G...

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian at the Education Summit in Victorias City on Thursday.*Victorias PIO photoSenator Sherwin Gatchalian said he supports the move to create the Negros Island Region.Gatchalian, who was in Victorias City on Wednesday, October 5, said based on his talks with people in Negros they want to have to their own region so they do not have to go to Iloilo for administrative matters.The senator said before the new region is created they have to make sure there are offices for the national government agencies.This needs to be thoroughly studied to determine if there are funds for infrastructure, he said.“But in principle I agree” that the NIR should be created, he said.Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said that the Senate will approve the NIR ...

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, flanked by Rep. Francisco Benitez and Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez (right) at the Education Summit in Victorias City on Thursday.*Rep.. Benitez FB page photoSenator Sherwin Gatchalian, Senate Committee on Basic Education chairman, wants the intelligence funds of some national government offices realigned to restore P4.1 billion shortfall for free higher education in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in 2024.Gatchalian, who was the speaker at the Education Summit in Victorias City on Thursday, October 5, in an interview said the Senate is discussing the realignment of some of the intelligence funds for the SUCs.During the hearing on the proposed 2024 budget of the Commission on Higher Education and SUCs, Philippine Association of State Universitie...

The Victiorias City public school teachers and their laptops.*Victoria PIO photoMayor Javier Miguel Benitez turned over 924 laptops to all public school teachers in Victorias City on Thursday, October 5, in what was described as a “trailblazing education initiative in the Western Visayas”.Every public school teacher in Victorias City received a laptop, Benitez said.Also turned over were 713 SMART TVs for public school classrooms, 3,555 tablets for students, 589 teachers’ tables and chairs, 4,230 Monoblock chairs, 56 wall fans, 56 water dispensers, 28 clinic beds, 28 medicine cabinets, and 28 portable speakers.All of these were distributed to the 27 public schools in Victorias to be utilized in accordance with a Sidlak Learning Technologies memorandum of agreement, which wa...