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A Pontevedra resident was arrested for allegedly choking his drinking buddy to death at Hda. Casal-agan Viejo, Barangay DSB, Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, 8:05 a.m. on Thursday, March 16.Witnesses said the victim Andres Tal Bautista, 59, and suspect Christian Vincent Albaña, 22, had been drinking alcohol together.Albaña, a farm laborer, then accompanied Bautista home, but along the way the victim suddenly banged the head of the suspect on a carabao cart, the police reported.Albaña then grappled with Bautista, and punched and chocked him causing his death, the police added.The police arrested Albaña in a pursuit operation.Physical examination showed that Albaña sustained head injuries, and scratches on different parts of his body. He also had bloodstains on his neck and...

Governor Roel Degamo as he was laid to rest at his family mausoleum* PIA NegOr photoThousands of Negros Oriental residents , many of whom were seen weeping, cried for justice for slain Governor Roel Degamo as he was laid to rest at his family mausoleum in Barangay Bonawon, Siaton, Thursday afternoon, March 16.The massacre of the governor and eight others in Pamplona, on March 4 has awakened the people to call for an end to the cycle of violence and killing with impunity in Negros Oriental, Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes said in his homily at the Requiem Mass at the St. Vincent Parish Church in Barangay Bonawon.“We pray that the cycle of violence and unsolved killings in Negros Oriental end with him (Degamo),” Cortes said.“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Gov. Roel D...

Bacolodnon Carl Angelo M. Hofileña claimed the 9th spot in the recently concluded Physicians Licensure Examination (PLE) with a passing rate of 86.83 percent, the Professional Regulation Commission announced Thursday evening, March 16.An Augustinian Medical Technology alumnus, Hofileña completed his medical school studies at the West Visayas State University- La Paz.He was a Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Batch 2022 post graduate intern.The PRC said 1,573 out of 2,887 passed the Physicians Licensure Examination given by the Board of Medicine in the NCR, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Pampanga, Rosales, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga March 2023.*

San Carlos City was hit by a cholera outbreak.The outbreak was confirmed by the Epidemiology Bureau of the Department of Health central office following the upsurge in diarrhea cases in San Carlos City last month, Joe Recalex Alingasa, the city’s spokesman, said Thursday, March 16.He said of the 22 specimens sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, seven were confirmed to be cholera cases. Automatically all the other cases in the city were considered to be cholera cases, Alingasa said.The health emergency declared in San Carlos has already been lifted, he said.The number of cases in San Carlos have dropped, but last week a 64-year-old patient died from a water-borne disease, he added.They discovered some of the water sources in San Carlos were near drainage...

Two persons, including a former seaman, were arrested and P115,600 in suspected shabu was seized in a buy bust operation in Purok 9, Brgy. Poblacion 1, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15.Nabbed were Peter Murakami Ysulan III, alias Toto, 49, a former seaman and Top 7 on the Sagay drug watchlist, and Rey Poblacion, 40, the police said.They were arrested when the police implemented a search warrant in relation to Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Among the items seized were suspected shabu estimated to cost P115,600, a .45 caliber pistol, magazines and ammunition, the police said.*

The site where the skeletal remains were found.*Human skeletal remains were found in a sack at a garbage site in Barangay Damsite, Murcia, Negros Occidental, 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15.The fatality had not been identified, the police said on Thursday.The police said Ernesto Fernando, a resident of Purok Violeta, Brgy. Cansilayan, Murcia, was searching for “kangkong” and was shocked when he saw a skeleton arm and some distance away a sack containing the rest of the skeletal remains of a human.He immediately informed Barangay Kagawad Rene De La Cruz of Barangay Cansilayan, Murcia, of his discovery.The Murcia police requested assistance from the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office in identifying the skeletal remains.*

Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. *House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Thursday, March 16, strongly urged Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. (Neg. Or., 3rd District) to reconsider his decision not to return to the country, saying “It does not sit well for a House Member to flee the country rather than avail himself of all the legal remedies available to him”.Romualdez issued the statement following a private meeting with Teves’ legal counsel, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, Wednesday evening.Teves earlier sent a letter to Romualdez seeking a two-month leave of absence from the House of Representatives due to a “very grave security threat to his life and his family”.The congressman has been linked to the murder of Gov. Roel Degamo that also left eight others dead in Pamplona, Neg...