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A scene for electrocution incident.*Silay PNP photoA 51-year-old truck driver died of electrocution in Barangay Bagtic, Silay City, Negros Occidental Thursday, August 31.Killed was Solmer Rivera of Victorias City.Lt. Col. Mark Darroca, Silay police chief, said the truck was parked on the side of the road next to the backhoe.When the backhoe started moving, it hit the main power line that fell on Rivera's truck.The victim removed the wire and was electrocuted, Darroca said.He was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital.*

The firearm and drugs recovered from the raid.*La Carlota PNP photoA man was arrested with a firearm and drugs during a police operation at Brgy. La Granja, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, Wednesday, August 31.Nabbed was Kene Mañoso, 41.The policemen were acting on a search warrant for illegal possession of firearms issued by La Carlota Regional Trial Court Judge Cyclamen Jison Fernandez on August 25.Mañoso yielded a .45 caliber pistol with two magazines and 16 ammunition, 30 grams of shabu worth P204,000, a weighing scale, and drug paraphernalia, the police said.The police are still verifying the reports that the suspect was allegedly involved in gun-running activities and illegal drugs.He is now in police custody and is facing charges for illegal possession of...

The provincial police join the kick off ceremony of the National Crime Prevention Week held nationwide on Thursday, September 1.*NOCPPO photoA total of 164 suspects were apprehended by the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) in the Philippine National Police’s 24-hour simultaneous implementation of warrants of arrest for wanted persons on Tuesday, August 30.This operation was conducted by all units of the police as part of the peace and security framework of PNP chief, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., called “Malasakit, Kaayusan, Kapayapaan Tungo sa Kaunlaran.”Of the arrested suspects in the province, eight of them were tagged as most wanted persons who belong to the Top 10 while 156 were other wanted persons.The 31 city and municipal police stations, two provincial...

An angry Wennie Sancho during the CENECO press conference.*Central Negros Electric Cooperatives (CENECO) officials on Thursday, September 1, maintained that they had not entered into any illegal power purchase contract and extensions, the rise in electricity rates is beyond their control, and that they have begun refunding consumers for the P238 million ordered by the Energy Regulatory Board (ERC).The CENECO officials led by their president Jojit Yap and acting general manager Ervin Stan Leo Ticar , held a press conference in response to accusations hurled against them in a petition being circulated for signature that is set to be sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.Ticar said they are consumers also and have been trying to find ways to lower power rates.A heated confront...

Former Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon of the Commission on Elections launched her latest book at the Silliman University Law Center in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, on Saturday, August 27.The book is titled “The Local Government Code of 1991: Notes and Cases”.Guanzon also donated P500,000 for scholarships at the Silliman University College of Law in behalf of her family, who are from Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.Guanzon graduated from Silliman University High School in 1974.Her parents, the late Judge Sixto Guanzon and Negros Occidental Board Member Elvira Guanzon, were also Sillimanians. Both were among the first to receive from Silliman the highest Latin honors of summa cum laude.*

Senator Francis Escudero has designated Toboso Councilor Richard Jaojoco as his representative in the Board of Regents of the Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology in Sagay City.Escudero, Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education chairman, informed Dr. J. Prospero De Vera III, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, on Wednesday, August 31, of Jaojoco’s designation.Escudero, in a letter to Jaojoco, said “as my representative, you are to perform your duties and responsibilities within the authority given with utmost diligence and within the bounds of the law and rules of the Commission on Audit.”Jaojoco is also expected to furnish Escudero with copies of the minutes and reports for all meetings of the state college he attends.Ja...

The farm to table beneficiaries in San Carlos City*Suzy Peñalosa photoA farm to table nutrition project that benefits farmers and their children in school was launched in upland San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Thursday, September 1.The project of the Negrense Volunteers for Change (NVC) Foundation funded by Metrobank Foundation purchases local produce from farmers of the Indigenous Peoples belonging to the Bukidnon Organic Farmers Association (BOFA) in Brgys Prosperidad, Rizal and Nataban of San Carlos City as ingredients for hot meals of their children enrolled in three public elementary schools in the barangays, NVC President Millie Kilayko said.The project provides a stipend for their mothers who prepare the food in school Mondays to Fridays, while the children bring hom...

Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez (second from right) during the surprise drug tests in Victorias*Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez said 10 out of 1,106 Victorias City government employees subjected to surprise drug tests this week tested positive for the use of shabu and marijuana.The ten were job order workers, Benitez said on Thursday, September 1.Nine were found positive for the use of methamphetamine or shabu and one for marijuana, he said.The contracts of the job order workers found positive for the use drug will not be renewed on September 30, he said.Those who tested positive will be given the option to undergo detoxification and rehabilitation at the Negros Occidental Drug Rehabilitation Center in Victorias, Benitez also said.If the rehabilitation center ...

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez visits Wednesday's fire victims at the Villamonte gym.*The Bacolod City government has provided assistance to 51 families with 137 members whose houses were destroyed in two fires Wednesday, City Social Welfare Officer Pacita Tero said Thursday, September 1.Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez also visited the fire victims, some of whom are housed at the Villamonte gym.Food assistance, hygiene kits, mats, pillows, and blankets were provided to the affected families, and financial assistance is being processed, Tero said.Families whose houses were destroyed will received P10,000 each, while those with damaged houses will be given P5,000 each, she said. House sharer families will receive P3,000 each, she added.She said 14 houses we...