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Bacolod City Councilor Al Victor Espino said “I leave Grupo Progreso with a very, very heavy heart” at a press conference Sunday, September 5.*CPG photoBacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino said Sunday, September 5, that he was eased out of the Grupo Progreso (GP) led by Bacolod Mayor Evelio "Bing" Leonardia.“I leave Grupo Progreso with a very, very heavy heart…I am in a state of depression,” Espino said at a press conference.At a Grupo Progreso meeting on Friday afternoon, Sept. 3, “I was informed that I had lost the trust of our leader Mayor Bing and I appreciate that it came from him.”Espino said Leonardia told him that given his closeness to former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who will be his opponent for mayor in 2022, he has lost his trust in him.The councilor said...

The Department of Health raised Negros Occidental’s COVID-19 alert level to three on Monday, September 6, although its risk classification remains at moderate.The COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental hit 1,193 on Monday, the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) reported.There were also three new COVID-19 deaths in Negros Occidental Monday for a total of 620 since the pandemic started last year, the PIMT added.“There is a close to surge already happening in Negros, we’re back to over a thousand cases. So definitely the more contagious variant is present here in Negros Occidental,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said.The highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant has been in Negros Occidental, itS just that the Philippine Genome Center has only recently been releasing its fi...

Two new COVID-19 Delta variant cases have been detected in Bacolod City and one in San Carlos City, Dr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center deputy for medical data and analysis, said Sunday, September 5.The males hit by the Delta variant in Bacolod are a 32-year-old hospital health care worker from Barangay Singcang, and a 31-year-old unemployed Sum-ag resident, he said.They were both symptomatic.The Singcang resident had fever, cough and allergic rhinitis, and the Sum-ag resident had fever cough and a sore throat, he said.Both have recovered from COVID-19 but will be retested for the virus and their residences will be locked down in compliance with Department of Health rules, Sorongon said.The lockdown will be lifted if they test negative for the virus,...

Bacolod City remains a high risk area for COVID-19 and is under alert level 3, the Department of Health announced Monday, September 6.Bacolod City had 77 new COVID-19 cases on Monday for a total of 1,117 active cases, the DOH said.Eleven close contacts of the two Bacolod residents who recently tested positive for the Delta variant have been traced and locked down in their homes until their new COVID-19 test results are out, Dr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center deputy for medical data and analysis, said Monday.The two new Delta variant cases in Bacolod are a 32-year-old hospital health care worker from Barangay Singcang, and a 31-year-old unemployed Sum-ag resident, he told DIGICAST NEGROS on Sunday.The health care worker from Singcang has eight close cont...

A San Carlos City resident hit with the COVID-19 Delta variant died, Mayor Renato Gustilo said Monday, September 6.He was a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) in his 40s who arrived from Bahrain.The ROF was the sixth Negrense hit by the Delta variant and the second fatality.He was comorbid and succumbed to complications at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City on August 12, Gustilo said.The Philippine Genome Center disclosed during the weekend that the San Carlos resident’s specimen tested positive for the Delta variant, Gustilo said.Gustilo said the ROF’s close contacts have already recovered from COVID-19.However, the close contacts were instructed to resume their preventive quarantine until further advice, Dr. Jessa Tiapon, head...

Toboso and Isabela towns in Negros Occidental will be free zones in the 2022 polls, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, United Negros Alliance (UNegA) secretary general, said Sunday, September 5.Love Negros headed by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and UNegA led by Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer have entered into an alliance for the 2022 polls but in some local government units they cannot prevent opposing groups from fielding candidates, Escalante said.In Toboso, two Love Negros members are being considered to run for mayor against Madonnah Marañon Jaojoco, the wife of outgoing mayor Richard Jaojoco, of UNegA, Lacson said earlier.In Isabela, Vice Mayor Renato Malabor Jr. of UNegA will challenge Mayor Irene Montilla of Love Negros, Escalante said.*

A doctor and nurse from two Negros Occidental provincial government hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, September 6.One employee each at the Capitol’s Promotion Information Section (PIS), Provincial Accounting Office and Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center have also tested positive for COVID-19, he said.Diaz said he is suggesting the lockdown of the three offices but it will depend on their risk assessment on Tuesday, September 7Meanwhile, a doctor from the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City was symptomatic and was transferred from the Mambukal Resort to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, he said.The doctor’s condition worsened ...

A Bacolod resident was sentenced to life imprisonment for the sale of illegal drugs while two women were acquitted on Friday, September 3.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier, Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52, sentenced Jenro Gavaran Hornoz, alias “Tak-Tak”, to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of .044 gram of shabu for P200 to a police poseur buyer at Hernaez Street, Purok Katilingban, Barangay 40, Bacolod City, on Nov. 17, 2019.On his arrest seized from his possession were 1.704 grams of shabu for which he was also sentenced to 12 years and eight months as minimum to 17 years and eight months as maximum imprisonment and to pay a fine of P300,000.His immediate transfer from the Bacolod City District Jail to the National Bilibid Prison in Munti...

PRO-6 photoAt least 92 percent of the Western Visayas policemen have been vaccinated against COVID-19, Brig. Gen. Rolando Miranda, police regional director, confirmed on Saturday, September 4.Miranda, in a statement, said he wants all of the personnel of the Police Regional Office-6 to be inoculated against the virus.PRO-6 records showed that 7,003 of its 13,549 personnel in the region are fully vaccinated, while 5,505 have yet to get their second dose.The vaccination for the remaining personnel was deferred due to their different medical conditions.On August 11, PRO-6 started its own vaccination program that covered all police units in the region to ensure the safety of its personnel, who are deployed as frontliners.Policemen were encouraged to get vaccinated to le...