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A division head of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) who resigned is no longer within the reach of the provincial government for administrative action, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Tuesday, August 22.Lacson had dismissed Agriculturist 1 Herminigildo Basilio from the service for the missing 789 bags of fertilizer worth P2,267,000 from the provincial government’s Rice Processing Center (RPC) warehouse in Bago City.Basilio said he only followed the instructions of his division chief, Alnel “Potchie” Taba, OPA Technology Development and Agribusiness Division head, to facilitate receiving 1,920 bags of fertilizer from Juantong Agri-Ventures at around 3 p.m. on July 4, 2022.The fertilizers were completely unloaded to the warehouse and were acknowl...

A gun and suspected shabu worth P58,480 were seized by the police who arrested three persons in buy-bust operations in Negros Occidental on Monday, August 21.Antonio Arevalo, 34, of Brgy. Hilamonan, Kabankalan City, was arrested in a buy-bust operation and a 12 gauge shotgun and six grams of suspected shabu worth P40,800 were seized, the police said.Also seized were drug paraphernalia and live ammunition.Alfono Villaruel, 56, was arrested in Brgy. Balingasag, Bago City, Monday morning, the police also reported.The police confiscated 2.5 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated price of P17,000.In Victorias City, a teenager was also arrested at a public cemetery in Brgy. 21.The police recovered 0.100 gram of suspected shabu worth P680.*

Rep. Jose Francisco "Kiko" Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd Distirct) is using a temporary Facebook page named “Metro 3rd News” as his team works to regain control of his hacked social media page.On Tuesday, August 22, hackers continued to have unauthorized access to the “Cong. Kiko Benitez” page, uploading videos of “hot movies” for two days now after changing his profile picture with that of an unidentified female.“We are still awaiting response/action of Facebook but we have already gone through the request for recovery and assistance from them,” an update from the lawmaker’s office said.In an advisory on Monday, Benitez’s team announced that his official Facebook page, which has about 19,000 followers, “has been compromised by unauthorized access.”“We are actively addressing thi...

The burning motorcyle after the accident.*PNP photoA motorcycle caught fire and its driver died after it accidentally collided with a van at the highway in Brgy. Punta Mesa, Manapla town, Negros Occidental, on Monday, August 21.The motorcycle driven by Christopher Padilla Montebano, 33, of Brgy. 21, Victorias City, accidentally collided with a Hyundai Starex driven by Darius Jabay Haresco, 48, also from Victorias, the police said.The motorcycle was headed north to south when it overtook a vehicle and collided with the van that was traveling in the opposite direction, the police added.Manapla Police Chief, Maj. Jaynick Bermudez, told DIGICAST NEGROS that when the vehicles collided, Montebano died on the spot while the leaking gasoline from his motorcycle caused it to go up i...

Good news for electric consumers in southern Negros.The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) announced that its electricity rates for August decreased by P1.76 per kilowatt-hour from the previous month.NOCECO said that the electricity rate for this month is P11.6163/kWh, P1.7578 lower than July’s P13.3741/kWh.The main factor is the drop by P1.5884/kWh in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), it said.NOCECO also said that the price of Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) decreased from P9.7372 per kWh in the previous month to P9.4491 per kWh this month.NOCECO advised its consumers to conserve energy to avoid paying high electricity bills.*

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson turned over P22 million to 110 barangays in Negros Occidental for the implementation of various projects at rites held at the Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City on Tuesday morning, August 22.The barangays received P200, 000 each and their officials were given a free hand to choose the projects they need, Lacson said.The projects include solar street lights, water systems, multi-purpose vehicles, multi-purpose buildings, garbage collection vehicles, drainage systems, daycare centers, covered courts and health centers.The checks were received by the barangay captains and authorized representatives.*

Robbery with homicide charges have been filed against all three suspects in the killing of Binalbagan Catholic College teacher Tony Lazaga before the Negros Occidental Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.Robbery with homicide is a heinous crime that is non-bailable and punishable by reclusion perpetua, PMaj. Randy Babor, Binalbagan police chief, said Monday, August 21.Detained for the murder of the teacher are Jonathan Santella, 22, John Paulo Fernandez, 21, and Johnrey Castino, 19, all of Binalbagan.They were charged for stabbing Lazaga, 51, to death 16 times while he was walking towards his boarding house in Binalbagan in the early hours of August 16, Babor said.*

Rescuers retrieving the body of the victim.*NOPPO photoPolice investigators are eyeing the New People’s Army (NPA) as allegedly behind the killing of a barangay intelligence network (BIN) member in a remote sub-village in Barangay Aya, La Libertad town, Negros Oriental, early Monday morning, August 21.An initial report from the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office identified the victim as Julibe Sanoy, married, and a resident of Sitio Manghuya in Barangay Aya, the farthest hinterland village of La Libertad.Early investigation showed that unidentified heavily armed men shot the victim in the head twice inside his residence in Sitio Manghuya around 6:30 a.m. Monday.Barangay Aya chairperson Elvin P. Gomez reported the shooting incident to the police.PSenior Master Sgt....

The Police Regional Office-Western Visayas (PRO-6) has ordered its unit commanders to aggressively enforce the law against e-sabong (online cockfighting), based on the instruction of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).The directive was issued by Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor, police regional director, as monitoring continued on the possible e-sabong operation in the region.Maj. Mary Grace Borio, spokesperson of PRO-6, said on Monday, August 21, that the “one-strike policy” on illegal gambling will be implemented on all unit commanders, including provincial directors, city directors, chiefs of police and station commanders, regarding the presence of e-sabong in their respective areas of responsibility.“After one positive operation of a higher office in the ...

The new profile picture on the the official Facebook page of Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez .*The official Facebook page of Rep. Jose Francisco (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) has been hacked and now features video clips from “hot movies”.Earlier the Facebook accounts of the MassKara Festival and Bilis Cadiz, Ugyon Cadiznon of the Cadiz City government in Negros Occidental, had also been hacked and similar video clips were posted.The profile picture of Benitez on his Facebook page that has 19,000 followers has also been replaced with a photo of a female who appears to be one of the actresses in the “hot movies”.An advisory from the office of Benitez on Monday, August 21, said “We regret to inform the public that the Official Facebook Page of Third District Representative Congressm...