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The Bacolod City Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) has started the distribution of ₱6,236,000 in medical, burial, and financial assistance to 1,585 beneficiaries under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program, Monday, July 13.Upon the directive of Mayor Greg Gasataya, 939 beneficiaries received cash assistance amounting to  ₱3,623,500, during the first payout held at the Bacolod City Government Center Lobby Monday, a press release from the Bacolod City Communications Office said.The financial assistance aims to help individuals and families cope with medical expenses, burial costs, and other urgent needs during times of crisis, it said.The payout will continue until July 14.On the second day, the city will serve the remaining ...

A 23-year-old man was found dead inside a house in Murcia, Negros Occidental, on Sunday evening, July 12, with police saying there were no initial signs of foul play.Police identified the victim only as “Christian,” a caretaker and resident of Victorina Heights, Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City.The Murcia police said the incident happened at around 7:45 p.m. in Purok Proper, Brgy. Blumentritt.At around 9 p.m., personnel from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office informed police that a dead body had been discovered inside the house.Responding officers found the victim lying face down inside a bedroom after a neighbor became concerned when he failed to come out of the house that afternoon.The neighbor looked through a window, saw the victim lying moti...

 The evacuees in Isabela, Negros Occidental, on Saturday.*Mayor Miguel Angelo Yulo FB page photo        The more than 3,600 residents who evacuated from their homes amid heavy rains in Negros Occidental began returning home  Sunday, July 12, as the weather  improved, the    Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Program Office head Irene Bel Ploteña, said.     The Southwest Monsoon enhanced by Tropical Storm Inday caused heavy rains and floods, hitting 46 barangays across 10 Local Government Units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental leaving 1,202 families (3,605 individuals) affected, according to a PDRRMO report issued at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 12.Tropical Storm Inday has exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility.        La Castellana &nb...

The Northern Negros Guerrilla Front of the New People’s Army (NPA) has  issued a statement claiming responsibility for the execution of two men in  Victorias City on Friday.Ka Cecil Estrella, spokesperson for the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command (RJPC-NPA),  in a statement on Sunday, July 12,  said their Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) carried out the "death penalty" against Jerome Seballos and Alex Cunanan on July 10.Estrella said  Seballos was killed at around 5 a.m., while Cunanan was executed at approximately 7 a.m.  at Sitio Singko, Barangay Gawahon.The NPA also claimed to have recovered a .45 caliber pistol and a shotgun from Seballos, and .45 caliber pistol from Cunanan.The RJPC-NPA alleged that Seballos, a 59-year-old resident of Barangay Bata...

Bacolod-based conservationist Lisa Paguntalan-Marte.*photo courtesy of Errol GatumbatoBacolod-based conservationist Lisa Paguntalan-Marte has been named one of the two recipients of the 2026 MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity.The AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity announced the awardees in a joint statement  on July 7.Paguntalan-Marte, executive director of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. based in Bacolod, will receive the award alongside Alexandra Zimmermann of Germany.She was recognized for more than 25 years of work in biodiversity research and conservation in the Philippines.The award organizers cited her contribution to the rediscovery of the Philippine bare-backed fruit bat, which w...

The fire at the Antonio L. Jayme Elementary School*Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade photoA fire struck the Antonio L. Jayme Elementary School along the Alijis-Murcia Road in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, past 8 a.m. on Sunday, July 12.The blaze destroyed a storage room and damaged the school clinic,  Supt. Jenny Mae Masip, the Bacolod Fire Marshal, told DIGICAST NEGROS.Masip said that they received the distress call at 8:53 a.m., and the estimated damage is placed at ₱960,000.The fire started in the storage room after water leaking from a hole in the roof dripped onto an electrical outlet attached to a wooden wall, she said."Water is a conductor that, upon contact with a live wire, can ignite a fire," Masip explained.Fires also hit two ho...