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The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said on Friday, December 23, that it is imperative to challenge the decision of the MAV advisory council to import another 64,050 metric tons of refined sugar in response to the prevailing high retail prices in the domestic market."Importation as an instant solution to high prices is undoubtedly an economic misstep. We have proved this with the Rice Liberalization Law with the massive importation of other agricultural products such as onion, garlic, and vegetables," KMP said in a press release.The sugar importation proposal, endorsed by the Department of Agriculture MAV Advisory Council, was recently approved by President and concurrent agriculture Secretary Ferdinand Marcos Jr.DA Memorandum Order No. 77 was issued last December 20 to ...

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agents and the police arrested an alleged drug group member and seized P544,000 in suspected shabu in a buy bust operation in Brgy. 5, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, on Friday, December 23.Arrested was Roldan Alqueza, 60, of, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, a police report said.Recovered from him were about 80 grams of suspected shabu, it said.The operation was conducted by joint elements of the PDEA6-Regional Special Enforcement Team, PDEA Negros Occidental Provincial Office, Police Drug Enforcement Unit 6 (Negros Occidental Provincial Office) and San Carlos City Police.The operation was carried out following a report sent via text through the “Isumbong Mo Sa PDEA” platform, created to allow the public to report illegal drug acti...

Eleven of 31 towns and cities in Negros Occidental have identified sanitary landfills, Josephine Maguad, head of the Provincial Environmental Management Unit of the Environmental Management Bureau 6, said Thursday, December 22.The sanitary landfill is a requirement under the Solid Waste Management Act.Most of the 11 LGUs have already passed geological and environmental assessments, she said.Not all LGUs have sanitary landfills as some have signed memorandums of agreements for the sharing of sanitary landfills, Maguad added.One difficulty LGUs are facing is finding sanitary landfill sites, she said.If a town or city has no sanitary landfill, they should have a residual containment area or adopt alternative technology for the conversion of waste into various products, Mag...

The Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas has processed and paid more than P766.2 million in One COVID-19 allowance (OCA) to all eligible public and private health care workers (HCW) and non-HCWs in health facilities who have been involved in the COVID-19 response.The DOH in Western Visayas in continuing to fast track the processing and release of the rest of the OCA, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, DOH regional director, also assured in a press release.As of Wednesday, December 21, the DOH has posted a 69 percent obligation rate amounting to more than P766.2 million processed and paid from the P1.1 billion fund allocated for Western Visayas, he said.The grant of OCA covers the months of January to June 2022.The rate that eligible HCWs and non-HCWs receive varies depending on ...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson*Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson called on Negrenses to be extra careful in the use of fireworks, especially in ushering in the New Year.“Be careful, take care of yourselves, we would like to avoid injuries,” he said on Thursday, December 22.Lacson urged Negrenses to instead watch community fireworks staged by their local government units to usher in the New Year.He also urged Negrenses to remember what Christmas is all about and to be thankful for the blessings they receive whether they are big or small.Lacson also reminded the Negros Occidental provincial government employees that not many Negrenses will receive bonuses like what they are receiving so he hopes they also share part of it with people they wish to help...

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared Monday, December 26, a special non-working day throughout the country to “give the people the full opportunity to celebrate the holiday with their families and loved ones.”Marcos, in Proclamation No. 115 issued Thursday, said “a longer weekend will encourage families to get together and strengthen their relationship towards a more productive environment, and will promote tourism.”Marcos ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to issue the appropriate circular to implement the proclamation for the private sector.Christmas Day, which falls on a Sunday, is observed as a regular holiday.Marcos earlier also declared Jan. 2, 2023, which falls on a Monday, as an additional special non-working day “in consideration of the Filipino ...

NONECO general manager Danny Pondevilla*Two “persons of interest” in the killing of the general manager of the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) tested negative for gunpowder residue, Lt. Jonito Pastrana, Bacolod Police Station 2 officer-in-charge, said Thursday, December 22.Danny Pondevilla, 47, was found dead in the driver’s seat of his Honda CRV at 16th-Lacson Street, Bacolod City, with a lone gunshot wound on the left side of the occipital region of his brain at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, December 21.His executive secretary and a NONECO union official who were tagged by the police as “persons of interest” were subjected to paraffin tests, and the results released Thursday were negative.However, paraffin test results are not conclusive, Pastrana said.They are ...

A Bacolod Regional Trial Court judge sentenced three Bacolodnons to life imprisonment for the sale of drugs on Wednesday, December 20.RTC Branch 52 Judge Raymond Joseph Javier in separate decisions sentenced Joyce Buenaventura dela Gente alias Bebe, Ronnie Vicente Gador alias Bulldog, and Mark Ceasar Luzuriaga Galo alias Toto, to life imprisonment and to pay fines of P500,000 each for violation of Section 5, Article II, of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Dela Gente was apprehended for selling .198 gram of shabu to a policeman at Purok-Tambi Palad , Barangay 10, Bacolod on July 23, 2020.On her apprehension 22.283 grams of shabu were also recovered from her possession for which she was also sentenced to another life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P400,000.Del...

The Negros Occidental provincial government’s priority for 2023 is a bulk water public–private partnership project, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Thursday, December 22.The project will serve the needs Bacolod, Talisay and Silay cities, he said.He said investors will not come in if Bacolod is not included because it has the biggest market, he said.The bidding for the bulk water project is set next year.Bulk water projects will be undertaken to ensure that Negrenses have safe and potable water, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Lacson said he also hopes Negros Occidental’s economy will pick up in 2023 and the sugar industry will continue to be blessed.*

Enrique Rojas, Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. and Danilo Abelita (l-r)*The presidents of three sugar groups called on the Department of Agriculture, Sugar Regulatory Administration and the Department of Trade and Industry to guard against excessive retail prices of sugar that are not in synch with prevailing millgate prices, on Thursday, December 22.“Producers sadly get the blame but do not benefit from excessive retail prices, while consumers and end-users suffer when retail prices are unreasonably high,” Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., Danilo Abelita of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc. and Enrique Rojas of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters said in a joint statement.They urged government to enga...