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Mary Nessa Ardiente Ong on her arrest on Oct. 27, 2022. *BCPO photoA Bacolod City Health Office job order employee, who was tagged by the police as a high value drug personality, was sentenced to two life terms and ordered to pay fines totaling P1.5 million on Tuesday, June 20.Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 judge, Raymond Joseph Javier, found Mary Nessa Ardiente Ong, alias Tata, guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the sale and possession of shabu totaling 110.541 grams in violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Javier sentenced her to life imprisonment and ordered her to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of 10.826 grams of shabu to a Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit poseur-buyer at Sharina Heights, Barangay Taculing, Bacolod...

VMC employees and volunteers conducted a clean-up drive in the Malihao River as part of their continuing efforts to help rehabilitate the waterways in Victorias City.Victorias Milling Company (VMC) mobilized employees and volunteers in a recent waterways clean-up drive as part of the continuing effort to rehabilitate the Malihao River in Victorias City.VMC President Linley Retirado said the clean-up was conducted in collaboration with the regional Environmental Management Bureau as part of the celebration of Environment Month to “ensure that our waterways remain clean and safe and also to protect marine life.”VMC also invited environmental experts to assess and set up additional mitigating measures to ensure that their wastewater treatment facility levels are stabilized, which ...

The 5,000 kits procured for the conduct of drug tests.*PNA photo by PGLenaThe Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO-6) has procured 5,000 kits for the drug tests on organic personnel aimed at making sure that they are free from any involvement in illegal drugs to achieve a drug-free workplace.“Only the official drug test result shall tell officially if one is using illegal drugs," said PRO-6 acting regional director Brig. Gen. Sidney N. Villaflor during the presentation of drug kits to the media at the regional headquarters in Iloilo on Monday, June 19.The conditional random testing shall cover commissioned and non-commissioned officers, including non-uniform personnel (NUP) in various units in Western Visayas this 2023.It will start at the regional headquarters fo...

The filing of the notice of strike on Monday.*Nico Delfin photoEmployees of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) filed a notice of strike before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board in Bacolod City on Monday, June 19.The complaint was filed by the CENECO Union of Rational Employees (CURE).CURE lawyer Rey Gorgonio said they filed the notice of strike because the CENECO and Primelectric Holdings Inc. joint venture agreement (JVA) is tantamount to union busting.The notice of strike was also filed to protect the security of tenure of the CENECO employees and their right to self-organization, he said.The JVA will cause the employees to lose their jobs and the union, he said.MORE Power is saying that they can be rehired but it will not be as regular emplo...

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said he hopes the people of Bacolod will understand and support his stand.*Richard Malihan photoThe Central Negros Electric Cooperative and Primelectric Holdings Inc. joint venture agreement (JVA) is a “white knight” that would save power consumers from a looming disaster, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Monday, June 19.Benitez, in a two-page statement outlining the reasons for his support for the JVA, said having sustainable and efficient power supply is also highly crucial to Bacolod’s aspiration to become a “super city”.“It is therefore imperative that our power distribution system in the City should be developed, upgraded and systematically advanced, or else we will be left behind,” he said.The mayor said he hopes th...

The slain Fausto family members were buried at the Aguisan Public Cemetery on Sunday.*Himamaylan CSWDO photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Monday, June 19, said he was informed verbally by the police that the persons behind the massacre of the Fausto family in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, have already been identified.“I am just waiting for the official report from the PNP,” Lacson said.It seems that there is progress in the determination of the suspects, he added.Rolly Fausto, his wife Emilda, and their minor sons, Ben and Ruben, were killed in their home on June 14.The identification of suspects had also been confirmed by the Himamaylan police who withheld details pending the completion of the affidavits of the witnesses.PCapt. Arturo Margallo ...

The buy-bust operation at Brgy. Vista Alegre, Bacolod City.*A Bacolodnon was arrested after the police seized suspected shabu worth P27,000 in a buy-bust operation at Brgy. Vista Alegre, Bacolod City, Sunday night, June 18.Joelan Compao, 38, of Abada Escay, Brgy. Vista Alegre, was arrested at around 10 p.m. the police reported on Monday .The police said they recovered nine sachets of suspected shabu and several paper bills from Compao *

Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Sunday, June 18, that 400 housing units under the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) program at the Arao relocation site in Barangay Vista Alegre, Bacolod City, are expected to be completed before the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 24.Benitez said he was informed by the developer of the expected date of completion of the two four-story buildings with 400 housing units in Vista Alegre.They are in a more advance stage of completion than the other 4PH projects in other parts of the county, he said.The 400 housing units are part of the 10,000 targeted under Bacolod’s Yuhum housing program.“We are planning to expand the Yuhum housing program to many other sites. This will b...