Top Stories

What does it say about our society when the economy is up, but wages remain stagnant, prices are increasing, and the poor remain poor?Last January 13, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno reported that the Philippine economy grew by 7.5 percent in 2022, and is expected to grow by 6.5 percent this 2023, a projection touted by President Marcos during the World Economic Forum just this week.Similarly this week, the price of a kilogram of onions reached P800. While the increase in the commodity’s price seems comical, its implications are not. Several farmers have already expressed frustration over their losses despite the increase in onion prices, with at least five farmers reportedly killing themselves because of it. The same farmers express concern over the plans to import more onions o...

SRA Deputy Administrator Guillermo C. Tejida III *The chairman of a famers federation has withdrawn a complaint for “grave misconduct, abuse of authority, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service" that he filed against a deputy administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration in 2022.Enrique Tayo, chairman of the Negros Occidental Federation of Farmers Association (NOFFA), in an affidavit of retraction dated January 10, withdrew the complaint that he filed against SRA Deputy Administrator Guillermo C. Tejida III before the Office of the President for the issuance of an order to import 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar.Tayo has not withdrawn his complaint against Tejida’s co-respondent, then SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica.Tejida said with T...

A farm worker is facing charges for alarm and scandal that allegedly resulted in the death of a pensioner from a heart attack at Hda. De Agua, Brgy. Cubay, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 21.The complainants alleged that the suspect Romel Dela Torre Maquilat indiscriminately fired a gun, which is still under investigation, Lt. Col. Lowell Garinganao, La Carlota City police chief, said Sunday.They are still investigating if a firearm had been used as it has not been recovered, Garinganao said.However, alarm and scandal charges will be filed against Maquilat.Nador Luyao Guitguit, 66, of Hda. De Agua succumed to a heart attack during the incident.Initial police investigation showed that at around 7:05 p.m. the suspect went to the house of th...

The New People’s Army has claimed responsibility for killing a 29-year-old resident of Moises Padilla town in Negros Occidental on Thursday, January 19.Raffy Byarcal Estorco, 29, was killed at Sitio Tubod, Barangay Macagahay, Moises Padilla, the police reported Friday.Estorco was on board his motorcycle when an unidentified suspect shot him on the forehead, the police said.Ka JB Regalado, spokesman of the NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command, said they sentenced Estorco to death for being an intelligence asset of the Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion.*