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A signature campaign calling for the investigation and criminal prosecution of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative board of directors (CENECO-BOD) and management for signing an alleged illegal power supply contract and extensions has been launched, former Bacolod councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. said Tuesday, August 30.The petition also cited the consequent high cost of electricity and brownouts.The petition calls on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Senator Rafael Tulfo – Senate Committee on Energy chairman and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to look into the matter and help CENECO member-consumers file formal complaints in a proper court.They are also asked that CENECO immediately be registered with the Cooperative Development Authority. ...

Councilor Al Victor Espino presided over the hearing of the tax relief ordinance*Delinquent real property taxpayers in Bacolod City will be asked to sign a memorandum of undertaking (MOU) to avail of relief on surcharges and penalties, Councilor Al Victor Espino said Tuesday, August 30.This was agreed on in a Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government hearing with stakeholders on a proposed “ordinance granting tax relief to delinquent real property taxes in the city of Bacolod”, Espino said.Espino, who chairs the committee, said the MOU will state that the taxpayers who are granted condonation of the their penalties and surcharges agree to pay the amounts waved if the ordinance granting it is disallowed for not being compliant with national laws....

An 11-year-old girl drowned in the river at Purok Libertad, Brgy. Ma-ao in Bago City, Negros Occidental, Monday, August 29.Her mother is still missing.The body of the minor, identified as Ma. Ella Gargaceran, was recovered at Taytay California in Barangay Ma-ao, the Bago Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office reported.The DRRMO received a call regarding the drowning incident at 1:41 p.m. Monday.Still missing as of this writing is her mother, 43-year-old Myra Gargaceran.The minor tried to retrieve her slippers that were floating in the river, but she drowned., the DRRMO report said. Her mother tried to save her, but she too was swept away by strong current, it added.The current was strong due to heavy rain, Bago DRRMO head Merijene Ortizo said.Their search and...

The elderly was buried at the Kabankalan City public cemetery.*Aksyon Radyo Bacolod photoThe corpse of a 67-year-old woman who was buried Sunday, August 28, was removed from her coffin at the public cemetery in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.It was the caretaker of the cemetery who discovered the body of the elderly woman with no clothes on, Monday morning, August 29.Lt. Col. Raymond Cruz, city police chief, said it is possible that the incident happened Sunday night or early Monday morning.One of the possible motives is that the suspects may have been looking for valuables on the body of the corpse, but the family said that there were none in the coffin, the police said.It was not yet clear if the elderly woman was raped, the police said.An investigation is ong...

The P7 million worth of drugs seized.*PRO-6 photoThe police seized P7.561 million worth of drugs in another buy-bust operation in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Sunday night, August 28.Nabbed was 36-year-old Mark Villaran of Antonio Luna Street, Brgy. 1. He was tagged by the police as a high-value drug individual.The suspect sold four plastic sachets of suspected shabu worth P48,000 to a police poseur buyer at the entrance of Mallery 2 Subdivision in Brgy Rizal.During the bust, he yielded 1,112 grams of suspected shabu worth P7,561,600, the buy-bust money, P1,280 in cash believed to be cash proceeds, and drug paraphernalia.Prior to the bust, authorities also recovered two kilos of suspected shabu with an estimated value of P13.668 million at Brgy. Lantad which led to th...

Thirty one private schools in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City have closed, Department of Education 6 data showed Monday, August 29.Twelve schools closed permanently and 19 temporarily because of lack of students and financial constraints, the DepEd said.Of the 12 private schools that closed permanently four are in Bacolod City, four in San Carlos City, three in Silay City and one in Sagay City.Those that temporarily closed under the Negros Occidental Schools Division are seven, Silay City – six, Bacolod City - two, and Bago City, Cadiz City, Kabankalan City and Sagay City – one each.The total number of private schools that closed in Western Visays are 76, with 59 temporarily and 17 permanently, the DepEd said.*

The Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Brgy Sicaba, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, where four people drowned on Sunday will be off limits to excursionists, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante said Monday, August 29.However, fishermen and Batay Dagat personnel will be allowed to make stops at the about 3,000-square meter reef, he added.The mayor decided to declare the reef off limits after what started out as a fun excursion on the tiny Kabilang-bilangan Reef turned into a tragedy for four at 1 p.m. Sunday.It will be off limits until polices are drawn up and safety measures are put in place, he said.Mack John Aguirre, 15, was swimming in the reef’s waters when he was carried away by strong current prompting his mother Marlyn Delfin Aguirre, 33, to try to rescue him.When she failed to ...

National Heroes Day marked during a flag raising ceremony in Valladolid, Negros Occidental, Monday, August 29.*Bfp Rsix Valladolid photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez rallied their constituents to continue fighting for freedom from all threats as the nation marked National Heroes Day on Monday, August 29.“May this celebration resonate the same messages of hope and resilience to every Bacolodnon to continue fighting and defending our freedom from any form of threat or oppression just like what our ancestors did before us, “Benitez said.“Let us honor this day by practicing a more conscientious, active, and responsible citizenship, for we are still in the course of a fight for our health, safety, recovery, and of course, freed...

The country's sugar industry getting financial boost next year.*Ronnie Baldonado photoActing Administrator David Alba of the Sugar Regulatory Administration on Monday, August 29, welcomed the announcement that the national government’s subsidy for the SRA will be increased next year.Deputy House Speaker Ralph Recto said, in a press statement Sunday, that the Department of Agriculture, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at its helm, will see its budget shoot up by 44 percent, from P71 billion this year to P102.15 billion next year. A budget subsidy of P1 billion has been earmarked for the SRA, up by 41 percent, from this year’s P712.2 million, Recto said.“We welcome the budget increase for SRA for next year’s utilization as the industry is in dire need of programs to be implem...

Rescuers trying to revive the drowning victims in Cadiz City.*PCG Cadiz photoAn excursion turned fatal at the Kabilang-Bilangan Reef in Barangay Sicaba, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, after four persons, including two minors, drowned on Sunday, August 28.The victims were on a pumpboat going to the sandbar when a 15-year-old boy fell into the water due to the strong waves.This prompted his mother, 33-year-old Marlyn Aguirre, to jump into the sea to save her son, but she, too, was swept away by the strong current.Their companion - Remymar Ocon, 31, and a 13-year-old boy - also jumped to rescue the two, but they also drowned.Attempts were made to revive the victims at the Cadiz City Emergency Clinic but they didn’t make it.They had five other companions who were also t...