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The Negros Occidental National Science High School in Victorias City.*Victorias Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez said on Sunday, August 27, that classes will resume at the Negros Occidental National Science High School (NONSHS) on Tuesday, after they were suspended late last week when tremors were felt in the area.Strong tremors were felt in barangays 10 and 14 in Victorias City on August 24 and 25 but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it had not recorded any earthquakes in the area.Benitez has asked the PHIVOLCS, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and the Department of Public Works and Highways to investigate what caused the tremors and to check on the safety of classrooms.Classes at the NONSHS were suspended late last week, but Benitez said “on Tues...

The family of Dauin, Negros Oriental, Mayor Galicano Truita and their helpers were held hostage by their security escort at their home on Saturday, August 27.Lt Col. Roland Lavisto, public information officer of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NORPPO), said in a statement Sunday, August 28, that the suspect, identified as 57-year-old Venirando Dalope of Pangasinan, surrendered to authorities after hours of negotiations.He held captive the mayor’s wife, Maria Carmen Truita, and, daughter Jemimie Truita, and their helpers, Liza Tuban and Maricon Abarientos.The suspect has been working as a security escort for the family for several years, and was suffering from a nervous breakdown prior to the incident, the police said.It was the mayor who informed town police c...

The DSWD payout at SM City in Bacolod City.* Bacolod City PIO photoThe Department of Social Welfare and Development distributed P22,786,000 in educational assistance payouts to 7,852 indigent students in Western Visayas on Saturday, August 27.There were 1,687 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental who received P5,306,000, May Rago-Castillo, DSWD 6 information officer, said Sunday, August 28.She said 276 beneficiaries were elementary students, 194 - high school, 226 - senior high school and 991 – college from Negros Occidental.The payout on Saturday was “generally peaceful, organized and smooth. It was way better and improved. The additional assessment and payout sites really helped to ensure that no untoward incident would happen,” Rago-Castillo said, after a previous near stam...

Gina Martin - Philippine Sugar Research Foundation Inc. director general, David Alba - acting Sugar Regulatory Administrator and Terence Uygongco - PHILSURIN Foundation president (l-r) at the 68th Philippine Sugar Technologists annual convention in Bacolod City on Thursday, August 25.*Suitable high yielding sugarcane varieties are a prime necessity for sustainability of the Philippine sugarcane industry, Gina Martin, Philippine Sugar Research Foundation Inc. (PHILSURIN) director general, said Sunday, August 28.PHILSURIN has developed better high yielding varieties that would help growers attain profit despite high production cost, Martin, former Sugar Regulatory Administrator, said.She said PHILSURIN has released commercial varieties that could serve as replacement to the deter...

The demand letters being served Friday.*The Bacolod City Legal Office (CLO) served final notices or demand letters to 17 tenants of the Manokan Country to pay their delinquent accounts totaling P8.64 million or face closure.The serving of the notices on Friday, August 26, was a collaborative effort of the CLO together with the City Treasurer's Office, Permits and Licensing Division and Socio-Economic Enterprise Unit – Markets, a press release from the Bacolod City Government Center said.Legal Assistant II April Rose Mae B. Morada reminded stall owners and their representatives that they only have until the end of September to settle their accounts.Failure to settle their accounts will result in the closure of their business establishments, the notices signed by City Legal O...

A Bacolod tricycle driver was sentenced on Friday, August 26, to two life terms for the possession and sale of drugs.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 sentenced Randy Azuelo Alcala Jr., alias Liboy, to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500, 000 for the sale shabu in violation of Section 5, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Alcala was apprehended after he sold .063 gram of shabu to a police poseur buyer for P500 at Purok Mars, Barangay Singcang-Airport in Bacolod City on July 3, 2021. On his arrest 10.520 grams of shabu were recovered from his possession, the police told the court.The judge found Alcala guilty of possession of the 10.620 grams of shabu in violation of Section 11, Article II of the Comp...

Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, Police Regional Office-6 director, leads a command conference at the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office headquarters on Friday, August 26.*NOCPPO photoThe Police Regional Office-6 will tighten its security measures in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental to prevent the entry of illegal drugs during the MassKara Festival.Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, acting PRO-6 director, who was in the province for a command conference Friday, August 26, said the supply of illegal drugs is still on the ground, citing the huge drug haul of drugs in the region, recently.He said that the police will focus on their anti-drug campaign.The police said that based on their monitoring, the demand for illegal drugs increases during festivals because of the influx of peopl...

The scene of the crime in Calatrava.*PNP photoAnother village chief was gunned down in Negros Occidental.Brgy. Lalong, Calatrava chief Benjamin Javoc, 54, was shot to death by 10 unidentified men Friday, August 26.The suspects then carted away the victim’s belongings and P20,000 in cash.The police are investigating if the crime was insurgency-related.On Wednesday, August 24, gunmen also killed the chief of Barangay Cabcab, Isabela, which was also said to be insurgency-related.

San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza at the Green SONA on Friday*Planned infrastructure projects in Western Visayas are threatening important ecosystems, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said Friday, August 26.Alminaza was one the speakers at the Green SONA (State of Nature Assessment) with the theme “The continuing assault on nature: What are the ecological options?” at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.The planned Patag-Calatrava Road runs through protected forest in Northern Negros, and the proposed Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge threatens the critically endangered dolphins in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait, he said.A Green SONA resolution said that the Northern Negros Natural Park and the Philippine forests in general are threatened primarily by human activities,...