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The Sangguniang Bayan of Isabela in Negros Occidental is expected to pass the town’s 2021 annual budget in February, a councilor said today, January 29.Councilor Francis Malabor, SB committee on finance chair , said that he expects the budget hearings to be completed by early next month.Mayor Irene Montilla submitted the proposed P216 million budget in October last year, but they were only able to hold one hearing in November, he said.This was because barangays, where some committee members live, were placed under lockdown while the municipal hall was also temporarily closed following positive coronavirus cases, he said.Malabor, who was a former town mayor, said they resumed their budget hearings this January after sending three letters to the mayor’s office requesting...

Bacolod City and the entire Negros Island will remain under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) for the month of February, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced today, January 29.President Rodrigo Duterte has retained the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) classification of the National Capital Region (NCR) and Davao City, Roque said.Also under GCQ are Batangas and the Cordillera Administrative Region which includes Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Baguio City, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province for Luzon; Tacloban City for the Visayas; and Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Iligan City for Mindanao.The rest of the country will be under MGCQ, he added.Meanwhile, the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT) announced today that the COVID-19 active cases in N...

BCPO photoA 32-year-old woman was arrested in a drug bust operation by police operatives at Purok Kagaykay in Barangay 2, Bacolod City, Thursday afternoon, January 28.Nabbed was Baby Girl Villarna, alias “Baby,” and seized from her were P200 marked money, seven sachets of suspected shabu worth P10,000, and drug paraphernalia, a police report said.The suspect is now detained at Police Station 2 and will face drug charges, the report added.*

Photo from Transcom Bacolod FacebookThe Bacolod City government is temporarily shutting down a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm following a COVID-19 outbreak, City Administrator Em Ang said tonight, January 31.Forty-one employees of Transcom Bacolod in Barangay Tangub have tested positive for COVID-19 as of today and contact tracing is still ongoing, said Ang, who is also the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center (EOC) executive director.She said a 21-year-old male Transcom employee from Barangay Bata tested positive on January 23 for the virus after developing a cough and colds on January 18, and contact tracing was conducted.Two other Transcom employees also tested positive on January 23, one each on January 25 and 26, two on January 27, seven on January 29, 16 on S...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia meets with officials of private schools in Bacolod City.*Members of private schools in Bacolod City are willing to be among the first sectors to undergo vaccination for COVID-19, a press release from the Bacolod City Government Center said today, January 29.Ryan Mark Molina, executive vice president of STI West Negros University and president of the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Educational Association, and Bro. Kenneth Martinez, president and chancellor of the University of St. La Salle, met with Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, Emergency Operations Center executive director Em Ang and other officials at the Bacolod City Government Center Thursday, January 28, to signify the willingness of those from private schools ...

Moises Padilla PNP photoLuck ran out for a murder suspect, who escaped from the Moises Padilla Police Station, after he was finally caught by authorities after more than three months of manhunt operations.Reco Layan, 23, was tracked down at upland Barangay Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, which is more than 30 kilometers from the town police station, on January 29.During the arrest, the suspect yielded an MK2 hand fragmentation grenade, the police report showed.Layan, who was arrested for murder in July last year, escaped from the detention cell of the police station on Oct. 14, 2020, after complaining that he was feeling ill.Layan is now in the custody of the Moises Padilla police.*

Mayor Irene Montilla, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, and Rep. Marilou Arroyo (2nd, 3rd and 5th from left) led the groundbreaking rites for the hemodialysis center in Isabela, Negros Occidental, today, January 28.*Capitol photosA P19.5 million three-storey hemodialysis center will soon rise beside the Ignacio L. Arroyo Memorial District Hospital in Isabela, Negros Occidental.Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Rep. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo (Neg. Occ., 5th District) and Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla led the groundbreaking rites for the center today, January 28.The facility is set to be completed this year, and will have an initial 12 beds for hemodialysis patients, the governor said.“For the past years, the province has had a steady increase of patients needing kidney treatment. In fact, in the G...