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Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (center) with Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and Rep. Greg Gasataya (right) on Friday.*Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Friday, September 9, that he believes two former members of the Sugar Regulatory Administration board were misled into signing Sugar Order No. 4 that sought the importation of 300,000 MT of sugar.Zubiri said he will include an amendment in the Senate Blue Ribbon report stating that be believes that former SRA board members Roland Beltran representing the millers and Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr. representing the planters were misled into singing the sugar order.“They were misled to believe that the president wanted it", he said, referring to the importation for 300,000 MT“There is only one mas...

The fire that hit three houses in Barangay Villamonte.*BFP photoTwo houses were destroyed and one was damaged at Aries Street., Greensville 3 , Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City, 11:23 a.m. Thursday, September 8.The houses of Christine Liboon and Virginia Penario were destroyed and the house of Nancy Parcon was damaged, the Bureau of Fire Protection reported.Estimated damage was placed at P180,000.*

Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz*Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has no objection to provincial government officials acting as consultants to Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez on a pro bono basis.The support of the governor for the mayor is still 100 percent, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said on Thursday, September 8.It will further synergize the working relationship between Negros Occidental and Bacolod City for the good of everybody, he added.“For the whole province to succeed we cannot turn our backs on Mayor Albee and Bacolod City,” Diaz said.Benitez has proposed consultancy agreements between Bacolod City and Diaz as consultant for Administrative Matters and Systems Review, Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital chief Dr. Mary Ann P. ...

The Amlig Kuryente convenors on Thursday, September 8, questioned why Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) allegedly rejected at least five lower priced power sources at the expense of its consumers.How did CENECO arrive at the P10.74/KwH rate? Amlig Kuryente convenors former Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Christian Weber asked at a press conference at the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City.Why did the CENECO Board of Directors (CENECO-BOD) and management contract an “Emergency Power Supply Agreement” of 40-megawatts priced at P10.74/KwH by Palm Concepcion Power Corp. and reject at least five probable “lower priced” sources, Gamboa asked.“What is so special about Palm Concepcion to the CENECO-BOD and management, one of the highest bidders in last year’s Competitive Sele...

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) has stepped up its measures to address the rampant robbery cases in the province.Lt. Judesses Catalogo, NOCPPO public information officer, said Thursday, September 8, that 43 robbery cases were reported in August alone, the most number of incidents this year.Only 13 of these cases are still under investigation because the victims are not willing to cooperate with the police, he said.He said that it was during the dead season in the sugar industry when criminality increased.Personnel of delivery vans, who were collecting sales in sari-sari stores, were mostly the victims, he said.The robbery incidents led NOCPPO to form the Joint Anti-Bank Robbery Action Committee, which tapped financial institutions, bankers, deliv...

The area where the woman was found dead in Purok Progreso, Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, Thursday, September 8.*Police Station 8 photoA woman was found dead Thursday morning, September 8, at the vacant lot in Purok Progreso, Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City.Capt.Elmer Bonilla, Police Station 7 commander, said the 26-year-old woman was said to be a commercial sex worker and was last seen the previous night being picked up by her customer.It is possible that the customer is the same one who killed the woman, Bonilla said.The victim sustained a hematoma on the right side of her face and bruises on her neck, the police said.The police have yet to establish the motive behind the victim's death.*

The encounter site at Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.*303rd IB photoThe Leonardo Panaligan Command of the New People's Army (NPA) claimed that the encounter between the rebels and the state troopers at Brgy. Trinidad in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, Wednesday, September 7, was “fake.”There was no NPA unit in the area when the incident happened, it claimed.The soldiers of the 62nd Infantry “Unifier” Battalion were at the site after reports that rebels were sighted in the area, which resulted to the clash with eight NPA members, the Army statement said.The five-minute firefight led to the death of 45-year-old Greg “Jordan” Cantilla, an alleged member of Sentro De Grabidad Platoon, CN1, and a resident of Brgy. Sandayao, Guihulngan City.The NPA claimed that the “massa...

The Negros Occidental provincial government will comply with whatever President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order is on the use of face masks, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Thursday, September 8.“I think the IATF is on top of it… we just have to wait for the executive order from the president,” he said.“Whatever our opinions are on this, it will be in the voluntary realm of our decision making as soon as the EO comes out,” Diaz said.Diaz said he agrees with Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson “that wearing of face masks in public helps us a lot in preventing infection”.The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has recommended the voluntary use of face masks outdoors.But the DOH on Thursday said it is urging the public to co...

Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr. : We are being made scapegoats.*CPG photoFormer Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board member Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr. called accusations hurled by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in its recommendation for charges to be filed against him and three others “baseless and false”.Valderrama, a Negrense, is the president of the VICMICO Planters Association Inc. and a director of the Confederation of Sugar Producers.He was appointed planters representative to the SRA Board by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on August 2 and was replaced by Pablo Luis Azcona on August 20.The Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of charges against Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, former SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Sera...