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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...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Thursday, September 1, that he is in favor of the construction of the Silay-Cadiz-Calatrava road as long as it does not violate any environment laws.It is a national project, it is not a project of the provincial government, Lacson said.Where there is a road, development is brought to communities, especially in the hinterlands, the governor said.People living in the mountains are asking for roads, he said.The road will also shorten travel time to the center of Negros Occidental, he said.What is important is that an environment compliance certificate is secured, he said.Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, at the Green SONA (State of the Nature Assessment) held at the University Saint La Salle in Bacolod on August 26, aired conc...

The Bacolod City council is asking BACIWA-PrimeWater to explain their poor water services.*SP photoThe Sangguniang Panlungsod is asking the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA)-PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. (PrimeWater) to explain their poor services.The resolution requesting BACIWA-PrimeWater branch manager Farah Jenny Monteclaro through general manager Mona Dia Jardin to provide the SP a written explanation on their poor water services, was approved during the SP regular session Wednesday, August 31.The resolution was authored by Bacolod City Councilor Kalaw Puentevella, chairman of SP committee on energy and public utilities.It has come to the attention of the members of the SP that numerous resident-consumers of Bacolod City are complaining that the water provided by ...

Veterinarians in Western Visayas undergo epidemiology training to strengthen the fight against African swine fever.*DA-6 photoThe Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas facilitated a three-day workshop on Applied Epidemiology training to veterinarians in the region to capacitate them on epidemiology, at the Aklan State University from August 24 to 26.The workshop was held to equip them in African swine fever (ASF) preparedness in conducting targeted surveillance activities for early detection and response.They were also equipped with the applied and working knowledge in disease outbreak investigation and to train the animal health workforce in preparing, planning intervention measures and...

Three sugar producers’ groups are asking how the Sugar Regulatory Administration arrived at its the proposed importation figure of 150,000 metric tons of sugar.The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), Confederation of Sugarcane Producers Associations (Confed) and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (Panayfed) sough clarification on the importation figure in a letter sent to SRA Acting Administrator David John Thaddeus Alba on Wednesday, August 31.The importation of 150,000 metric tons of sugar is contained in the draft Sugar Order No. 2 which SRA intends to issue.“It is not clear how and why SRA arrived at the figure of 150,000 MT. We would appreciate being advised on the figures used as reference, so that we can reconcile our own data and come up with a consiste...