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Mayor Alejandro Mirasol and his wife. Mary Ann.*It will be a husband and wife tandem running for the top posts of Binalbagan town in Negros Occidental in the May 2022 elections.Binalbagan Mayor Alejandro Mirasol said Tuesday, August 31, that he is running for reelection with his wife, Mary Ann Mirasol, as his runningmate.He said his wife is more than qualified for the vice mayoral post.Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, United Negros Alliance secretary general, said the Mirasols will be running under the UNegA ticket and have already been issued certificates of nomination by the party.Alejandro Mirasol is expected to be challenged by former mayor Emmanuel Aranda.Mirasol said incumbent vice mayor Samuel Gavaran will run as councilor.The mayor said he is supporting t...

A businessman was shot dead at Crossing Antipolo Lubi, Brgy. Talaban, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, Sunday afternoon, August 29.Killed was Marvin Diancin, 40, of Brgy. Mambagaton, Himamaylan City. He was a supplier of bamboo products.Lt. Arturo Margallo, deputy of the town police, said the victim, onboard a motorcycle, stopped on the side of the road after he was flagged down by the unidentified suspect, who then shot him several times.The victim was brought to the Gov. Valeriano M. Gatuslao Memorial Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.Recovered from the scene were 10 fired cartridges and two bullets of a .45 caliber pistol.The police are still investigating the killing.*

Three of the latest Negros Occidental residents hit by the Delta variant were found negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Tuesday, August 31.The two additional residents who tested negative were a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City and a 69-year-old female from Valladolid, he said.On Monday, Diaz said the 79-year-old female from Pulupandan had tested negative.All three have been declared recovered and released from quarantine, he said.A 9-year-old boy hit by the Delta variant in Silay City died on August 2, he said.Diaz said the COVID-19 risk classification of Negros Occidental was raised to moderate and its alert level to three because of the detection of residents hit by the Delta, Alpha, Beta and P.3 variants.However,...

The sacked Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) employees are demanding that the utility firm give them their jobs back.At a press conference Monday, August 30, Leny Espina, BACIWA Employees Union president, said they will continue to “pursue what is just and right.”“We demand for our immediate reinstatement. The longer we are denied our right, the more this comes at the expense of the consumers,” she said.The employees were separated from BACIWA effective Dec. 31, 2020.Earlier, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in Western Visayas ordered BACIWA to reinstate the terminated workers and to pay their back wages.The CSC resolution came eight months after the positions of the 60 workers were declared redundant by the BACIWA board after its joint venture agreement (JVA) with...

The tanker that fell on a tricycle killing its driver and critically injuring its passenger.*San Carlos DRRMO photoA driver was killed and a passenger critically injured when a liquid fertilizer tanker fell on the tricycle they were riding on in San Carlos City at 8:33 a.m. Tuesday, August 31, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management officer Joe Recalex Alingasa Jr. said.Killed was Jojo Piernas, 50, who was crushed by the tanker, and injured was Rodolofo Gatungay Jr., 37, who sustained a head injury.The liquid fertilizer tanker rolled over and collided with the tricycle at the national highway near Barangay 1 in San Carlos City, Alingasa said.The tanker was loaded with spentwash.The driver, Renante Tanjay, 31, is now in police custody, he added.*

Pulupandan LGU photoOne of the three latest Negros Occidental residents hit by the Delta variant was found negative for COVID-19 on retesting, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Monday, August 30.The 79-year-old female from Pulupandan tested negative, while the results of a 21-year-old male from La Carlota City and a 69-year-old female from Valladolid were being awaited, he said.Three close contacts in La Carlota City and one in Valladolid were also tested for COVID-19, he added.The houses of the Delta-hit residents were locked down pending the release of their COVID-19 test results.A 9-year-old boy hit by the Delta variant in Silay City died on August 2, he said.La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalando-on said the carrier of the Delta variant in his city was a l...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 45, Series of 2021, on Monday, August 30, extending the General Community Quarantine with Heightened Restrictions (GCQ-HR) in Bacolod City until September 7.The EO was issued in compliance with the decision of the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, he said.Bacolod City has been under GCQ-HR since July 15.The city had 911 COVID-19 cases on Monday, the Department of Health reported. It has also been hit by 10 Delta variant cases.The NIATF also retained the General Community Quarantine status of Negros Occidental.Bacolod City curfew hours will remain from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., mass gatherings are prohibited, wakes and religious gatherings are limited to 10 percent of venue capa...

Police Station 1 photoThe Police Regional Office-6 has ordered a thorough investigation into the killing of a Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) drug operative.Brig. Gen. Rolando Miranda, police regional director, has ordered Col. Manuel Placido, city police director, “to exert all efforts to bring justice to the BCPO fallen operative.”On Sunday, August 29, SSgt Joseph Nepomuceno Jr., 37, of the BCPO City Drug Enforcement Unit, was on board on his motorcycle when he was attacked by unidentified motorcycle-riding suspects at Rosario St. in Barangay 15. He succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.Placido dispatched the police operatives and Police Station 1 investigators to identify and arrest the motor-riding suspects.“The BCPO is saddened by the loss of one of its dedicated ...