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The Social Security System (SSS) served show cause orders to nine delinquent employers in Bacolod and Bago cities as part of its nationwide simultaneous “Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE)” campaign on Friday, April 28.The nine employers have contribution delinquencies totaling P13,839,622.74, Josefa Pineda, SSS Acting Regional Communications Officer, said.The total employees affected by the delinquencies are 769, she said.Six of the establishments are in Bacolod and three are in Bago.The employers served show cause orders are engaged in IT services, construction supply and engineering services, as well as a retail store, restaurants, security agency, and a building contractor, Pineda said.The nationwide simultaneous RACE was conducted in advance celebration of Labor...

Pablo Luis Azcona, left, with President Ferdinand Marcos.*Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and sugar industry leaders on Friday, April 28, welcomed the appointment of Pablo Luis Azcona as the acting administrator and chief executive officer of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed Azcona to the post on April 20, the Presidential Communications Office announced Friday.Azcona was previously appointed planters’ representative on the SRA board.He is taking over the helm of the SRA from Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, who was named SRA officer-in-charge after David John Thaddeus Alba resigned as acting administrator effective April 16.“That’s good, we’ve always wanted a Negrense to...

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) said fluctuating power and outages that hit Negros and Panay on Thursday, April 27, were caused by power deficiency.The NGCP monitored a system disturbance affecting the Visayas grid at 1:51 p.m., it said.In its advisory it said there would be a red alert from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, which meant the supply-to-demand balance could further worsen, which could lead to rotating power interruptions.Yellow alert was up from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., which meant power reserves were not enough to cover the largest running generating unit at the time, but did not necessarily lead to outages, it added.*

A Bacolod fruit vendor was sentenced to two life terms for the sale of drugs to a policeman and for possession of 992.87 grams of shabu in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 Judge, Raymond Joseph Javier, on Thursday, April 27, sentenced Napoleon Japitan Begasa III to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of 1.023 gram of shabu to a police poseur buyer for P1,000 at Purok Kawayan, Barangay Banago, Bacolod City, on June 5, 2022.On his arrest 992.87 grams of shabu were also recovered from his possession.The judge sentenced Begasa to another life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P2 million for possession of the 992.87 grams of shabu.The immediate transfer of Begasa to the National Bilibid Pri...

The COVID-19 related deaths in Bacolod have hit 13 this year, with two males recorded as the latest fatalities.Of the 13 casualties, six or almost half died in April, Dr. Anna Maria Laarni M. Pornan, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and Inter-Agency Task Force head, said.The two latest fatalities were aged 66 and 12, she said.The 12-year old boy had comorbidities, Pornan added.Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said he was meeting with City Health Office officials to be updated on the new COVID-12 variant to determine what precautions to take.The country’s first case of “Arcturus” or the XBB.1.16 Omicron subvariant was detected in Iloilo province.*

DBP president and CEO Michael de Jesus, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, DBP director Roberto Antonio, Rep. Greg Gasataya and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran (l-r) at the signing of the loan agreement.*CPG photoMayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the P4.441 billion city government loan for 17 projects will further pump prime the economy of Bacolod that is “poised to take off as an economic power house in the Philippines”.Benitez and Michael de Jesus, Development Bank of the Philippines president and chief executive officer, led the signing of the P4.441B loan agreement at rites held at the Bacolod City Government Center Thursday afternoon, April 27.The mayor said the National Economic and Development Authority data shows that Western Visayas is now the fastest growing region in the...

Mayor Marvin Malacon (5th from left), Vice Mayor Eric Matulac (4th from left), and Sangguniang Bayan members (from left) Wyndel Depasucat, Gilda Parcon, Jovie Madayag, Edgardo Agravante Jr., Isidro Gomed Jr. and Reylan Gamboa Sr. at a press conference on the 34th Ugyonan Festival on Thursday, April 27.*The 34th Ugyonan Festival of E. B. Magalona, Negros Occidental, in honor of the town’s patron saint, St. Joseph the Worker, kicks off on Friday, April 28, and will run until the fiesta day on Monday, May 1.EB Magalona Mayor Marvin Malacon, at a press conference Thursday, said the festival is a celebration of survival from the COVID-19 pandemic.However, while it is a time to celebrate he also appealed to those attending the festival to observe minimum health protocols and to volun...

A victim of the Pamplona massacre* Mary Judaline Partlow photoSurvivors and the families of those who died in the mass shooting in Pamplona, Negros Oriental, where Governor Roel Degamo was killed will finally get psychological and stress interventions that would help them cope with the traumatic experience.Three to five psychiatrists from Cebu will render their services to the survivors and families of those killed in the March 6 mass shooting, said Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief Liland Estacion, who herself was a victim of the incident.“Around three to five psychiatrists from Cebu are coming this weekend to cater to the needs of the massacre victims so they can cope with the post-attack behavioral, physical, psychological, and emotional stress,” she said on Thursday, Apr...

The three who were arrested in the buy bust operation in Baranngay Tangub.*Three persons were arrested in a police buy bust operation and P374,000 in drugs were seized in Purok Greenfield, Brgy. Tangub, Bacolod City, at 1:32 a.m. on Thursday, April 27.Nabbed was Jade Galo Babaran, 48, of Prk. Greenfield who was tagged as a “high value individual” and the subject of the buy bust operation; and “street level individuals” Janelle Clyde Obero Babaran, 27, of Prk. Greenfield, and a 14-year-old girl of Prk. Boulevard, Brgy. 14, all in Bacolod City, a police report said.The Police Station 8 operatives who conducted the buy bust confiscated the P500 marked bill used in the operation, and a black pouch with an estimated 55 grams of shabu, it added.The minor was turned over to the So...