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The NBI Bacolod office will reopen on January 25.*Barbara Mijares photoThe National Bureau of Investigation office in Bacolod City will be closed this week after seven of its personnel tested positive for COVID-19.The seven NBI administrative and clearance job order workers who tested positive have been brought to a Bacolod City quarantine facility, Renoir Baldovino, NBI Bacolod chief, said today, January 18.Baldovino said one of their JO workers had manifested COVID-19 symptoms earlier and tested positive.So he requested the Negros Occidental provincial government to have the rest of the 31 personnel at the NBI Bacolod office, 22 of who are JO workers and 9 regular NBI staff, tested on January 15 and 16.This resulted in six JOs testing positive for the virus, he said....

Escalante DRRMO photoThe floods that hit northern Negros Occidental late last week caused P26.9 million in damage to crops and other sources of livelihood, initial reports showed today, January 11.The floods affected close to 100,000 residents in six cities and two towns, and destroyed 94 houses and damaged 968 others, updated reports today showed.The floods also damaged roads and bridges, officials said.Talisay, Silay and Victorias cities that are currently under states of calamity were the worst hit by the floods.Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said initial reports show that the flash floods damaged 425.22 hectares of rice worth P11,498,776 in Talisay and Silay cities, and Manapla and Valladolid towns, and affected 570 farmers.Damage to rice crops in Ma...

PNP photoCardinal Jose Advincula of Capiz and the seven prelates of Western Visayas and Romblon, including bishops Patricio Buzon of Bacolod, Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos and Louie Galbines of Kabankalan, who have denounced the killing of tribes people during the December 30 police operations in Panay, were warned today, January 18, against “hasty, false, and presumptuous conclusions.”The eight prelates have issued a pastoral letter to be read in masses in all Catholic churches in Western Visayas on January 24, demanding a thorough investigation of the killings by an independent body.Flosemer Chris Gonzales, chief of the legal cooperation cluster of the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), in reaction to the pastoral letter, said the bishops...

About 50 families composed of 200 individuals fled their homes in the wake of intensified government offensives against communist rebels in barangays Trinidad and Sandayao, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental, during the weekend.The Trinidad residents evacuated to the Barangay Trinidad Elementary School Saturday amid the sound of gunfire in the distance.Two Army helicopter gunships also fired at a hill in the area to flush out fleeing New People’s Army rebels on Sunday, Col. Michael Samson, 303rd Infantry Brigaded acting commander, said today, January 18.The suspected enemy position was not near residences, he said.The Army operations against the rebels have halted and the evacuees, who were taken care of by the Guihulngan local government, have been advised to return h...

The Liberal Party Visayas in a joint statement on the 75th LP founding anniversary said what the country needs today is more “servant leaders.”The challenge, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is “to unite, to make a big change and to act as one nation. We are citizens who are very capable of change. Political endeavors are not only for the politicians,” their statement released today, January 18, said.It said the present government has not responded well to the severity of the situation. ”They have made a big mess of the situation,” the statement said.What the people need now are “servant leaders” who do not malign and insult the people, and instead protect them, the statement added.“And most of all, we need leaders who sincerely will protect our sovereignty,” the statement ...

BM Ryan Gamboa photoThe Negros Occidental provincial government will ask for more early warning devices and disaster response equipment from the National Disaster Risk Reduction Council, Zeaphard Caelian, Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD) head, said today, January 11.They need water level gauges and rain gauges to ensure early warning against flooding, he said.There is also a need to strengthen the network of disaster responders in the province and to upgrade their equipment, Caelian added.Caelian admitted that during the floods in northern Negros last week rescue operations of trapped residents were hampered by the lack of equipment.Their preemptive evacuation operations were also hampered by lack of cooperation by some residents, which made it m...

The number of COVID-19 free Negros Occidental towns increased to five on Sunday, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported today, January 18.The five COVID-free towns are Cauayan, Salvador Benedicto, Pontevedra, San Enrique, and Valladolid, the PIMT said.It also reported that Negros Occidental has 118 remaining COVD-19 cases, with San Carlos City still having the highest number at 21.Meanwhile, Negros Occidental has 12 new COVD-019 cases and Bacolod City has none today, the Department of Health reported.Bacolod, which is a highly urbanized city that is not under Negros Occidental, has 109 active COVID-19 cases, the DOH said.COVID -19 has killed 179 people in Bacolod City and 178 others in Negros Occidental since the pandemic started, the DOH added.*