Top Stories

The bag containing the severed feet and the message that came with it.*Romeo Subaldo photoThree businessmen named in a note attached to two severed human feet left at a gasoline station at CL Montelibano Avenue in Bacolod City denied being smugglers on Thursday, March 30.The message printed on a white paper said “Smuggler Agnus Botones, Atty. Rafael Ocampo, Mark Efren, protector Natnat”.Ocampo, Botones and Efren, who are motorcycle buddies, issued separate statements denying the accusation.“I am a practicing lawyer and I do not need to resort to smuggling to earn a living. Rest assured that the authorities can expect full cooperation from my end," Ocampo said."Since there are no clear allegations, I could only surmise that it is about fuel smuggling,” Ocampo said.Oc...

Negros Occidental High School students* Levi Trio photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson supports the call to bring back the school break to April and May.If the break is in August during the rainy season students will not be able to fully enjoy their break, Lacson said on Thursday, March 30.The extreme summer heat may also make it difficult for students to focus on their studies and could affect their performance, Lacson said.Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, on Tuesday said it is time to bring back the school break to the summer months after 100 students in Laguna were rushed to the hospital due to heat exhaustion.“Summer is the time students can go out, spend time with their families as opposed to during the rai...

Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez*House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has taken upon himself the responsibility of ensuring that the interest of the people of the 3rd District of Negros Oriental is protected by temporarily acting as their legislative caretaker.This was made effective through House of Representatives Memorandum Order 19-017, dated March 23, that Romualdez had issued after the House imposed a 60-day suspension on Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. (Neg. Or., 3rd District) for misconduct.“In the interest of the people of the 3rd District of Negros Oriental, the undersigned shall act as the Legislative Caretaker of the 3rd District of Negros Oriental for the period 23 March 2023 to 22 May 2023. This order takes effect immediately,” the memorand...

Negros is the country's biggest sugar producer.*Ronnie Baldonado photThe request of food and beverages manufacturers for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to allow them to directly import sugar for their needs is a recipe for economic disaster in the sugar industry, a labor leader said Wednesday, March 29.Wennie Sancho, Save the Sugar in Industry Movement (SAVE-SIM) convenor, said in a press release that “the call of these industrial users is motivated by their excessive corporate greed for profit at the expense of the stakeholders of the sugar industry, particularly the small producers”.“Let us not allow the insatiable greed by companies owned and controlled by foreigners. Direct importation of sugar is a form of economic sabotage,” he said.SAVE-SIM vehemently opposes and con...

The registered voters in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are now more than 2 million, the Commission on Elections reported on Wednesday, March 29.The number of regular voters are now 2,025,078 after the March 6 Election Registration Board hearings of the new voter registrants..Bacolod City has the highest number of voters at 341,344.The Sangguniang Kabataan voters are 663,455, with the highest number in Bacolod City at 100,625, the Comelec said.The Barangay and SK elections are set on October 30.*

Department of Health advice in case of a heat stroke.*The public is reminded to drink a lot of water and avoid extreme heat that could trigger strokes and heart attacks, Dr. Mary Ann Maestral, Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital chief, said Wednesday, March 29.Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat illness when the body overheats and cannot cool down. The body cannot take off the excessive heat by sweating because of dehydration and/or humid environment.That is why it is important to hydrate by drinking water every 30 minutes to an hour, she said.Drink water not coffee, soda and alcohol to hydrate, Maestral said.Limit the amount of time you spend outdoors, especially from direct sunlight from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., she also stressed.Maestral said the elder...

OBO head Isidro SunThe Office of the Building Official has issued 15 commercial establishments in Bacolod City, including a condominium, notices of violation and work stoppage orders, OBO head Isidro Sun said Wednesday, March 29.The OBO earlier also issued a notice of violation and a work stoppage order on the construction of an alleged cockpit in Barangay Tangub, he said.Sun said several buildings, including a condominium, pension houses and commercial establishments, could become white elephants for violating the Building Code.Among the prevalent violations are lack of parking areas and setbacks, he said.Some availed of building permits but did not follow the plans they submitted to the OBO, Sun said.If they do not follow the plans they submitted they cannot be is...

The scene of the crime in Brgy Matab-ang, Talisay City.*PNP photoTwo persons shot dead in Isabela town have been identified, while three others on board motorcycles were also killed in Negros Occidental, the police reported on Wednesday, March 29.The two victims of the shooting incident at the national road in Sitio Galo, Brgy 5, Isabela, on Tuesday were identified as Randy Bangiles Macasa, 51, and Stephen Talam Limen, 39, of Brgy Sibucao, San Enrique.The victims on board a motorcycle coming from the La Castellana-Moises Padilla Road going to Isabela, Poblacion, were shot by unidentified suspects who were traveling in the same direction, the police said.Meanwhile, a mother and her son on board a motorcycle were shot to death by unidentified suspects in Hacienda Ledesma, Brg...

The police arrested a Bacolodnon tagged as a high value individual and seized P3,440,800 in shabu in a buy bust operation at Lino V. Moles Street, Prk Kapawa, Brgy. Tangub, Bacolod City, 2:31 a.m. on Wednesday, March 29.Nabbed by the City Drug Enforcement Unit was Sean Batifora Navarro, 26, of Prk Kasilingan, Brgy Mansilingan, Bacolod City, and recovered from him were about 506 grams of shabu, the police said.Also recovered was the P3,000 buy-bust money.Navarro was turned over to the Police Station 8 custodial facility for proper disposition, the police said.*

The Negros Island Political Prisoners (NIPP) are holding an island-wide protest fast on Thursday, March 30, to call for justice for all victims of Oplan Sauron and extrajudicial killings during the Duterte regime, and for an end of impunity.On March 30 four years ago the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police launched the brutal Oplan Sauron 2, which led to the extra-judicial killings (EJKs) of 14 leaders and members of peasant groups in Canlaon City and the towns of Manjuyod and Sta. Catalina, in Negros Oriental, the NIPP said in a press release Wednesday, March 29.Oplan Sauron was a highlight of the Duterte government's brazen show of impunity, the group said.Human rights groups Karapatan and Defend-Negros have documented around 100 incidents of political ...