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The Negros Occidental Provincial Joint Security Control Center (PJSCC) is still assessing whether Barangay Tabugon in Kabankalan City should be tagged as an election area of concern following an encounter that caused the death of six alleged members of the New People’s Army.There are 51 barangays in Negros Occidental tagged as election areas of concern ahead of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls on October 30.Most of the 51 barangays were included in the list because of insurgency related concerns and not because of intense political rivalry, Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said Friday, September 29.The list is subject to review with political rivalry likely to heat up in some barangays as the polls near, he said.The PJSCC is set to meet on October ...

PMaj. Junji Liba, BTAO head, said towing will start October 9.*The Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) has initiated a campaign against illegal parking in a bid to instill discipline among operators of public utility vehicles, private vehicles, and tricycles.Spearheaded by PMaj. Junji Liba, BTAO head, the crackdown aims to alleviate traffic congestion and ensure smooth vehicular flow within the city, the Bacolod Public Information Office reported Friday, September 29.BTAO has strategically placed fixed signages across targeted areas to disseminate information about the new regulations. These signages include red indicators signaling a strict no-parking zone and yellow, denoting regulated parking hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Beyond this timeframe, parking is permissible.A...

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez*Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the signing of an agreement between Bacolod City and SM Prime Holdings for an over P4 billion Manokan Country development project, which will include the construction of two BPO Towers, will take place next month.SM’s development of the three-hectare property owned by the city government will start from the Vendors Plaza up to the Commission on Elections office at San Juan Street, Benitez said on Thursday, September 28.The Manokan Country tenants will temporarily be relocated to the SM parking lot fronting their current location so they can continue to operate, he said.They will then be allowed to return to the new building at their current site that will have better facilities and will be de...

A bedridden man and his wife were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Brgy. E. Lopez, Silay City, Wednesday afternoon, September 27.Melissa Baron, 39, and her husband Ronel, 31, were arrested in Hacienda Cumabat 1 and nine grams of suspected shabu worth P61,200 were seized, the police reported.Acting Silay Police Chief Maj. Rhea Sarah Villanueva, acting Silay police chief, said that they had been monitoring the couple after receiving information that they were dealing with illegal drugs.She said that the husband had already been apprehended for alleged drug pushing in 2020.Currently, he is bedridden and using a wheelchair because half of his body is paralyzed after a motorcycle accident, Villanueva said.“Despite the accident, their illegal drug activities did not stop. ...

A 26-year-old man died after he fell in a sugarcane field after he lost control of his motorcycle while traversing the Umpaog Curve in Brgy. Luna, Cadiz City in Negros Occidental, Tuesday, September 26.The fatality was Kenneth Valderama, 26, from Purok Sago, Brgy. San Juan, Pontevedra, the police said.PCapt. Gina Fernandez, Cadiz police information officer, said that he fell in a sugarcane field a distance away from the road curve.The victim was heading south when the incident happened, she added.Valderrama was brought to the nearest hospital but was declared dead.*

Rep. Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District)*Rep. Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) assured on Thursday, September 28, that with the “creative” economic development mandated by law there will be an acceleration of digitalization and upskilling to help the creative sector in Negros Occidental.In his speech during the kick-off ceremony of the Philippine Creative Industries Month at the University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City, Thursday, September 28, he said that Republic Act No. 11904 or the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act (PCIDA) will help the Negrense creative sector.“PCIDA creates the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council precisely to analyze market, cultural and demographic trends and changes, and adapt po...

Three Negros lawmakers have filed a bill that seeks to grant the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC) a franchise to acquire and operate the electric power distribution system in the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay and Bago and in the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto in Negros Occidental.House Bill 9310 was filed by Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano (Abang Lingkod), Rep. Juliet Marie Ferrer (Neg. Occ., 4th District) and Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) on Monday, September 25.The electric power distribution in the four cities and two municipalities is currently being handled by Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO).The quality of CENECO’s service has been wanting, the three lawmakers said in their House Bill 9310 explanatory note.Amon...

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) - Bacolod chapter is calling on the Philippine National Police to reconsider its policy regarding the disclosure of names in media reports “to establish a more transparent and accountable approach to strengthen public trust and to foster a safer community”.“We express concern about the revised policy of the Philippine National Police, as relayed by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, of withholding the names of suspects and victims in media reports related to crime incidents”, the NUJP Bacolod Chapter statement issued by its president Marchel Espina said on Thursday, September 28.The Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office announced on Monday, September 25, that it will be limiting the information it can rel...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is urging hog farmers to follow the provincial government’s guidelines on sentinelling before they resume pig repopulating to prevent a resurgence of deadly diseases.The sentinel protocol is a science-based approach to determining if a virus or disease is still present in an area. The survival of a sentinel pig will determine if an area is disease free and ready for repopulation.African swine fever and hog cholera caused the death of thousands of pigs in Negros Occidental this year, but now it is down to zero mortality, Lacson said.If the sentinelling goes well, the target is to repopulate starting next year, Lacson said.Pig exports have dropped because there are still some areas where Negros raisers cannot sell their hogs, Lac...