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BAYAN Negros condemned the call of a “serial red tagger” to arrest the leaders of the upcoming transport strike in Bacolod City.Jeffrey Celiz, “National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict mouthpiece”, alleged that the transport strike in Bacolod on Monday would be "economic sabotage", BAYAN Negros said in a press release Friday, May 5.His demands for state forces to arrest transport workers amid a crisis threatening their very livelihood is a greater form of sabotage than a legitimate and justified strike, BAYAN said.Red tagging BAYAN Negros and transport group UNDOC PISTON is a desperate attempt to minimize the jeepney drivers' and operators' right to dissent, the press release said.Celiz has long been a propaganda mouthpiece for smearing legal and legitimate...

Two Negrenses were sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday, May 5, for the sale of shabu to police poseur-buyers.Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 in separate decisions found Joel Landazabal Alma and John Paul Eduato Alisbo guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Alma was sentenced to two life imprisonments for the sale and possession of shabu and ordered to pay fines totaling P900,000.Alma was arrested for selling .212 gram of shabu for P1,000 to a policeman at Purok Fuentebella, Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, on Aug. 18, 2021.On his arrest 17. 537 grams of shabu was recovered from his possession, the court said.Alisbo was sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,...

The woman who stole the ATM card (second from right) being confronted by the seaman at the mall.*The police is warning the public, especially mall-goers, to beware of individuals who may be part of a syndicate stealing automated teller machine (ATM) cards.A seaman nearly lost about P107,000 when a woman who offered to help him at a mall ATM machine in Bacolod City stole his card Thursday afternoon, PMaj. Elmer Bonilla, Police Station 1 chief, said Friday, May 5.Fortunately the seaman spotted her at another Bacolod mall, which led to her arrest.Bonilla said one should never accept the help of a stranger at an ATM machine because that person could be part of a “salisi” gang.A “salisi” gang usually involves at least two to a maximum of four individuals, who will distract ...

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines successfully energized the P52 billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), a landmark undertaking that will improve power stability and reliability across the country, the NGCP announced Thursday, May 4.An initial load of 22.5 MegaWatts (MW) was carried by the high voltage submarine and overhead lines from Mindanao to Visayas during its energization on April 20."We expect to gradually increase the MVIP's transfer capacity to 50MW by mid-May, and 112MW by the end of the month, before energizing to its full transfer capacity of 450MW by the third quarter of this year," the company explained.The MVIP is comprised of a 184 circuit-kilometer (ckm) High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) submarine transmission line connecting the pow...

Rescuers searching for a 50-year-old female of Barangay Guiljungan, Cauayan.*Cauayan Mountain Tigers photoBacolod City and nine other local government units in Negros Occidental have suspended classes at all levels on Friday, May 5, amid the threat of heavy rainfall.The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said Western Visayas will remain under blue alert. Other LGUs who have suspended classes on Friday areSilay, Talisay, Bago, Himamaylan and La Carlota cities, and Hinoba-an, EB Magalona, Manapla, Hinigaran and Murcia towns.But Mayor Renato Gustilo said classes will resume in San Carlos City on Friday.The Department of Education (DepEd) has monitored 1,374 public schools in Western Visayas shifting to alternative delivery mode (ADM) of learning as a prec...

Two employees of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist of Negros Occidental were issued show cause orders for the disappearance of 789 bags of fertilizer, Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr. said Thursday, May 4.Agriculturists 1 Joy Cardinal and Herminigildo Basilio, persons in-charge of the Rice Processing Center warehouse in Bago City, have been asked to explain the disappearance of the fertilizer estimated to cost P2,367,000.“This is a notice to explain, this is not a formal charge so there is no preventive suspension order,” Nellas said.The two were issued show cause orders because they were the personnel who received the fertilizer, certified that it was complete and are the ones who keep the key to the warehouse, he said.The fertilizer was discovered miss...

The disconnection of power at 10 public elementary schools in Bacolod City on Wednesday morning was caused by “miscoordination”, Arnel Lapore, Central Negros Electric Cooperative acting general manager, said Thursday, May 4.“We sincerely regret the incident…To this, I humbly seek your apologies,” Lapore said in a letter to Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.CENECO disconnected the electricity at the Singcang, Mandalagan, Estefania, Luis Hervias, ABKASA, Bata, Pahanocoy, Sum-ag, Punta Taytay and Mansilingan elementary schools while classes were ongoing on Wednesday.Lapore said as of 10 a.m. Thursday power had been restored in nine schools.The restoration of the power at the Singcang Elementary School was delayed because a fallen tree had impeded access of the power re-co...

The Himamaylan City government personnel providing assistance to the evacuees.*Himamaylan CSWDO photoAn alleged New People’s Army rebel was killed, two government soldiers were injured and a civilian was hit by a stray bullet in an encounter at Sitio Ulo-Tuburan, Brgy Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, at about 4:55 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3, the police reported Thursday.The encounter between the Army’s 94th Infantry Battalion and the rebels caused the evacuation of 43 families with 175 individuals, who had returned home on Thursday, Lt. Col. Renante Jomocan, Himamaylan police chief, said.The slain rebel was still unidentified.Wounded in action were Pfc Denyl Pretal Reyes and Pfc Jionald Aldea Dumagat, Jomocan said.Ma. Fe Virtosio Caboctolan, 59, of Sitio Pa...