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The police entrapment and rescue operation in Barangay Taculing.*BCPO photoThe Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center – Visayas Field Unit rescued four minors and arrested their parents at Purok Tumpok, Espinos Village 2, Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod City, Friday evening, July 14.The parents were arrested for the alleged online trafficking and sexual exploitation of their minor children, PCol. Noel Aliño, Bacolod police director, said Sunday.DIGICAST NEGROS is withholding the names of the 28-year-old mother and 35-year-old father, who is a driver, to protect the identities of their children.The parents were arrested for exposing their children’s bodies to online predators for a fee, PCapt. Christine Cerbo, Bacolod police Women and Children’s Protection D...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson presenting Negros Occidental's bid to host the 2024 Palarong Pambansa at the DepEd Central Office on Friday, July 14.Negros Occidental will know on August 5 if it won its bid to host the 2024 Palarong Pambansa, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Saturday, July 15.Vice President Sara Duterte will make the announcement at the closing ceremonies of the 2023 Palarong Pambansa in Marikina on August 5, he said.Lacson presented Negros Occidental’s bid to host the 2024 Palarong Pambansa before the Palarong Pambansa Board at the DepEd Central Office on Friday.Also bidding to host the 2024 Palarong Pambansa are Cebu City and Antique.The Negros Occidental delegation at the DepEd Central Office on Friday, July 14.*The governor, in his speech at the presen...

Drug tests of Silay City government employees will be ongoing, Mayor Joedith Gallego said.*Five more employees of the Silay City government in Negros Occidental tested positive for the use of illegal drugs bringing the total to 13 in a week, Mayor Joedith Gallego said Sunday, July 16.The five who tested positive were employees at the Silay Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.The four who were casual employees were terminated while the regular employee voluntarily resigned, Gallego said.Earlier seven Silay City job order traffic enforcers who also tested positive for the use of drugs were terminated, he said.An employee of the City Health Office who also tested positive also voluntarily resigned, the mayor said.The tests initiated by the police and the Philippi...

Some police officials in Negros Oriental have recently been relieved from their positions for “career enhancement” purposes, Col. Ronan Claravall, acting police provincial director, said Saturday, July 15.The minor reshuffle would not affect key positions, Claravall said.The reassignment was part of regular reshuffling and has the “guidance and approval of higher headquarters", he said.“I have just been here for five days only and I am doing the rounds of the cities and towns to meet with the local chief executives and get to know the people and the places,” he said.Claravall is the fifth police provincial director of Negros Oriental this year, following the relief of four of his predecessors in the midst of national government efforts to restore peace and order in the prov...

PHI and NEPC president Roel Z. Castro*Primelectric Holdings Inc. (PHI) has assured Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez that it is committed to invest whatever it takes to "expand and modernize the distribution system" in the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) franchise area.The PHI-CENECO joint venture firm will be known as the Negros Electric and Power Corp. (NEPC).However, the joint venture agreement (JVA) needs the approval of CENECO consumer-members through a plebiscite for it to push through. The National Electrification Administration has put the plebiscite on hold pending the cleansing of the CENECO voters list.PHI and NEPC president Roel Z. Castro, in his letter dated July 10 in response to Benitez queries, said “some people interpret the fact that ther...

The backyard hog raisers of San Enrique, Bago City and Ilog, which have been the hardest hit by pig deaths from various diseases, will be the first to receive financial assistance from the Negros Occidental provincial government next week.Affected hog raiser will receive P2,000 each, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said on Friday, July 14.The assistance will be delivered by the provincial government to the affected pig raisers, he said.San Enrique has 2,671 pig deaths comprising 99.22 percent of its hog population and affecting 508 raisers, the Provincial Animal Biosecurity Incident Management Team (PABIMT) reported Friday.Bago City has 2,433 pig deaths or 11.93 percent of its hog population and affecting 319 raisers, the report added.Ilog has 1,390 pig deaths a...

The Negros Occidental disaster response ambulances and vehicles.*The Negros Occidental province-wide disaster response program is now fully operational, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Friday, July 14.The provincial government has prepositioned 18 new ambulances in the six districts of Negros Occidental, he said.Road rescue vehicles have also been assigned to Bago City and EB Magalona where most of the vehicular accidents transpire, while water search and rescue equipment have been placed in Sipalay City, he said.The provincial government has a 911 emergency hotline that has been operating for more than a year.It is based at the command center at the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division building at the Panaad Park in Bacolod City, he said.Mea...

Rennier Araco Jr photoThe police arrested five individuals and seized P421,600 worth of suspected shabu in separate buy-bust operations in two cities and a town in Negros Occidental, on Thursday, July 13.Ricky Tocaste, 33, of Sitio Sagahan, Brgy. General Luna, Toboso, was arrested in a buy-bust operation, Thursday afternoon.Shabu weighing 45 grams with an estimated value of P306,000 was seized, the police reported.Three suspects were also arrested in a buy-bust operation in Brgy. 6, Kabankalan City.Rodelyn Arias, 44, Rila Joy Cañete, 34, both from Kabankalan, and Jon Karlo Teovis, 23, of Brgy. Delicioso, Ilog town, were arrested and confiscated were 10 grams of shabu worth P68,000, the police said.Edsil Estancia, 31, of Brgy. Mambulac, Silay City, was also arrested ...

Representatives from the Office of Senator Raffy Tulfo will arrive in Bacolod City next week to assist the family of two children who were allegedly assaulted by a police officer Monday night, July 10.A police officer identified as Staff Sergeant Harry Gonzaga was caught on video “assaulting” the 12 and 13-year-old children which resulted to physical injuries in Brgy. 30, Bacolod City.Jason Decena, uncle of the two victims, said the family is seriously considering filing charges against the police officer.The victims underwent a medico-legal examination on July 11 and results showed that the injuries will incapacitate the patients from ordinary labor or require medical attention for five to seven days.Decena said that they already had a video call with the staff of Tulfo wi...

The police have identified about 15 members of the New People’s Army as suspects-at-large in the massacre of the Fausto family in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, on June 14.Himamaylan Police Chief PLt. Col. Reynante Jomocan said on Friday, July 14, they have already identified the suspects who are at-large since they are in the hinterlands.It has been a month since the incident happened, but the police are still waiting for the family of the Faustos to decide whether they will file a case or issue a waiver so the police can instead file charges against the suspects, he said.Four members of Fausto family, Emilda, Rolly, Ben, and Raben, were peppered with bullets that led to their death last month in their residence.Jomocan further said that the suspects...