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A new Department of Budget and Management circular has downgraded the positions of 109 nurses working in Negros Occidental provincial government hospitals.Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said today, January 25, that the provincial government had to comply with the DBM circular in its 2021 budget.A meeting was held with the nurses to explain what happened. The nurses’ reactions were negative but it is a policy from the national government so they had to convince them to make a sacrifice this year, Lacson said.Under the DBM memorandum, those classified from nurse 2 to 7 will be downgraded 1 rank lower.Lacson said they have assured the nurses that for 2022 they will create new positions so those downgraded this year can be promoted, he said.The modification of the nurses...

Capitol file photoThe Philippine Red Cross in Bacolod City is aiming to conduct saliva testing for COVID-19 by February 5, PRC governor Jay Jalandoni said today, January 25.Saliva RT-PCR tests, which have been approved by the Department of Health to be used by PRC, started at the Red Cross testing centers in Mandaluyong and Manila cities today.The PRC Bacolod laboratory also has the capability to conduct saliva tests and is just waiting for its testing kits to arrive, Jalandoni said.The saliva test will cost P2,000, which is cheaper than the nasal test that cost P3,800, he said.All one has to do is spit into a bag that will then be sealed and submitted to a medical technician for testing, Jalandoni said.The saliva test is a faster, easier, and more affordable mode ...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said today, January 25, that they are prepared to undergo COVID-19 vaccines, too.The two officials stated their willingness to be vaccinated amid fears from some sectors about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.Lacson said he will volunteer to be vaccinated if it will help encourage Negrenses to agree to do so, too.Pope Francis, who has been vaccinated, said it is our moral duty to protect ourselves as we protect others, Lacson said.I’m willing to take the same vaccine the pope had and I think it was AstraZeneca,” Lacson said.The national government has assured that all COVID-19 vaccines to be used in the Philippines are safe, he said.Leonardia said he is okay to be vaccinated af...

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles led the ceremonial turnover of 2,000 McDonald’s meals to Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia (3rd and 4th from left) as Michelle and Andrew Valencia of Bacolod CETUS Food Industries and Marie Angeles (left) look on.*City PIO photoSecretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, Zero Hunger Task Force head, stressed the need to address hunger that has worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic during the ceremonial turnover of 2,000 meals at the Bacolod City Government Center today, January 25.“COVID-19 destroyed the economy, jobs and raised the level of hunger,” Nograles said.Nograles and Marie Angeles, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities, turned over the cooked meals to Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia for 15 barangays, two charitable organiza...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he favors longer voting hours in the 2022 elections if the COVID-19 pandemic still remains a threat.The proposed longer voting hours is to allow physical distancing of voters to prevent the spread of the virus.It will be more expensive on the part of government but it will limit the number of voters at any given time, Lacson said.It will be better than voting by mail, he said, in reference to the recent elections in the United States.*

Photo from Laguda Cockpit Center FacebookA government health worker in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, who went to a cockfighting event in neighboring Calatrava town, has tested positive for coronavirus, Mayor Renato Gustilo confirmed tonight, January 22.The government worker, known as Patient No. 515, is a 64-year-old male from Barangay Palampas.Gustilo said they could not determine yet if the patient contracted the virus at the cockpit, but he was there the whole day of January 16. He returned to the city the following day, January 17.They only learned that he was positive for the virus on Thursday, January 21, the mayor said, adding that the patient is now admitted to a hospital in the city after he displayed symptoms such as loss of smell and taste.He said it h...

HPG photoA carnapping suspect, who is the top most wanted person of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group in Western Visayas, was arrested Sunday, January 24.Nabbed was Carlo Claro of Barangay 20.Armed with an arrest warrant, operatives of the HPG-Negros Occidental, Police Station 4, Regional Intelligence Unit-6, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office and Calatrava Municipal Police Station, swooped in on Claro’s residence to apprehend him.The arrest warrant for carnapping was issued by San Carlos Regional Trial Court Judge Kathrine Go on June 27, 2019, with a recommended bail of P300,000 for his temporary liberty.The suspect is now in police custody.*