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The contract of the Bacolod City government with AstraZeneca for the purchase of 650,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines is missing, Lyzander Dilag, spokesman of Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said Thursday, July 14.The city government is being asked to pay the balance of P98 million for the vaccines  “on the basis of a supposed obligation where the original contract of such obligation cannot be found, or cannot be seen, what is presented to us is merely a draft”, Dilag said at a press conference.Asked if the city government would pay the P98 million if the contract is found, Dilag said it would have to be evaluated.An AstraZeneca representative who met with Benitez recently said that the city government owed them a balance of P98 million for the 650,000 doses of COVID...

A road in Barangay 39, Bacolod City, was temporarily closed due to a reported chemical spill on Thursday morning, July 14.This, after some residents of the barangay noticed foul smell from a private lot near the office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which prompted the members of the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, City Health Office, Bureau of Fire Protection and the Philippine National Police along with Councilor Pao Sy and  Joseph Karol Chiu, secretary to  the mayor, to conduct an ocular inspection in the area.During the inspection, they found several containers of hazardous chemicals. They also took samples for laboratory testing at the Negros Prawn Cooperative laboratory.Lime and sawdust were placed inside the compound to reduce the o...

The removal of “spaghetti wires” in the major thoroughfares of Bacolod City is in full swing, Lyzander Dilag, spokesman of Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Thursday, July 14.“This will be undertaken in major thoroughfares in preparation for the MassKara Festival in October,” Dilag announced at a press conference.“Hopefully, when we celebrate MassKara it will be a smiling street, not a frowning street because of the spaghetti wires”, he said.The spaghetti wires will be removed along Lacson Street and around the Bacolod Public Plaza first, he said. Spaghetti wires refer to electrical and telecommunication wires that are abandoned, damaged and not being used, which have become an eyesore for being messy, entangled and disorganized, Executive Order OO3, Series o...

People who have yet to get their booster shots against COVID-19 will be barred from entering the three city hall buildings of La Carlota, Mayor Rex Jalandoon said Thursday, July 14.A sign reminding residents to get booster shots has been placed at the entrance of the city hall.Jalandoon said this is one of the reasons why La Carlota City leads the local government units with the highest vaccination rate in the province.He plans to require all students and teachers who will be part of the face-to-face classes to be fully vaccinated,  Jalandoon also said.He explained that this is to protect the community.When majority of the  residents are fully vaccinated and have booster shots, they will gradually be able to return to normal, he said.*

A lending collector lost P20,000 to robbers in Isabela on Wednesday, July 13.*Isabela PNP photoA lending collector was robbed by two unidentified motorcycle-riding suspects at Barangay Camang-Camang in Isabela town, Negros Occidental, Wednesday, July 13.The 25-year-old victim just collected a debt payment from a store when he was held at gunpoint by the two perpetrators, who carted away P20,000 in cash.Police said the suspects may have monitored the activities of the victim, who noticed that a motorcycle was tailing him when he was at the upland part of the village.The police have no leads yet on the identities of the robbers.The incident came a day after a salesman, along with his driver, lost their P120,000 sales collection to three robbers in Ilog town.*

Hermenegildo Serafica*Sugar Regulatory Administration employees issued a manifesto of support for the OIC-administrator of the SRA on Thursday, July 14, after Hermenegildo Serafica in a memorandum stated that he still heads the agency.The SRA Employees Association of the Philippines Inc., in their manifesto, said they fully support Ignacio Santillana as the OIC-administrator based on a SRA joint memorandum issued on July 4, deputy administrator Guillermo Tejida III disclosed.They do not recognize any other person who continues to claim to be the administrator, the manifesto said.A joint memorandum issued July 4 designated Ignacio Santillana, SRA deputy administrator, as OIC of the Office of the Administrator in compliance with Memorandum Circular No.1, Series of 2022, issue...

The Negros Occidental provincial government in partnership with the Department of Science  and Technology- Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology conducted a training course on the use of GeoRiskPH Platforms as a hazard and risk assessment tool for local government units (LGUs) at the Capitol in Bacolod City, Thursday, July 14.The training focuses on the effective use of the GeoRiskPH apps in building their exposure geodatabase and tools for a more efficient hazards and risk assessment, data collection, data sharing and analysis in support of data-informed planning and decision-making, a Capitol press release said.The participants were the LGUs’ Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) officers and local planning officers.They were trained on how t...

Dengue cases in Western Visayas have reached a record high of more than 5,000 with 31 deaths, the Department of Health 6 reported Wednesday, July 13.The dengue cases in Western Visayas this year have hit 5,057 with 574 new cases from June 26 to  July 2, or an increase by 389 percent compared to last year, the report said.Negros Occidental has the highest number of newly reported dengue cases at 185 for a total of 1,869 or an increase by 777 percent compared to last year.The province also has the highest number of dengue deaths in WV. Meanwhile, Antique has  1,409 dengue cases and four deaths, Iloilo province - 840 cases and  nine deaths, Capiz – 299 cases,  Bacolod City -  269  cases and five deaths, Aklan had 198 dengue cases and two deaths,  Iloilo City - 113 cases a...

The Department of Social Welfare and Development  has purged 4,515 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as of June 22, DSWD Western Visayas spokesperson May Rago Castillo said Thursday, July 14.Of the 4,515 who exited or graduated from the 4ps there are 4,116 from Negros Occidental, and 399 are from Bacolod City, she said.As of July 7 the remaining 4Ps beneficiaries in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are 133,988, she added.The cleansing of the 4Ps beneficiaries is ongoing until the end of the month and the number of those to be removed from the list is expected to increase, Castillo said.The majority of those removed were due to natural attrition, she said.Among those removed were those who no longer have ...