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Show cause orders will be issued against Bacolod City employees who fail to produce the 122 city government vehicles assigned to them for inventory, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Thursday, February 2.“We will go through the process, charges will be filed,” Benitez warned.Benitez had asked that all vehicles of the city be inventoried at the Bacolod City Government Center grounds on January 28 but 122 were missing.If they say that the vehicles are unserviceable they should report where they are so they can be inspected, Benitez said.“If they cannot produce the vehicles there will be show cause orders that will be issued,“ he said, which are already being readied.Benitez is questioning why the books show that the city government has more assets than what were reporte...

A bettor in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, was one of two winners of the P73.4 million jackpot in the Mega Lotto 6/45 draw on Wednesday night, February 1.The winning tickets were bought in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, and Barangay Pinagkaisahan, Makati City, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) announced Thursday.The bettors guessed the winning combination, 37-29-42-21-27-05, and will split the prize money of P73,481,247, the PCSO said.All jackpot prizes must be claimed at the PCSO main office in Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City, within one year from the date of the draw, it said.*

The new municipal treasurer of Isabela, Negros Occidental, will assume his post on Friday, February 3, while the Commission on Audit investigates the whereabouts of about P7 million in alleged missing funds from the town treasury, Provincial Treasurer Amy Grace Bolivar said Thursday.Jesse Gumapas, former acting municipal treasurer of Toboso, has been assigned to Isabela.Current Isabela municipal treasurer Nenette Mandadero Escarda will be reassigned to the Provincial Treasurer’s Office, Bolivar said.Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla had requested for the revocation of the designation of Escarda, Bolivar said.An audit is being conducted on the extent of the shortage of the Isabala municipal government funds, she said.Escarda reported to the police that funds and checks belong...

Bacolod Councilor Celia Flor is the author of the Paleng-QR Ph Program ordinance.*SP photoThe Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod passed on second reading the proposed ordinance for the Paleng-QR Ph Program in Bacolod City on Wednesday, February 1.The proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Celia Flor, SP Committee on Markets and Slaughterhouse chair, enjoins all business establishments and local transportation in Bacolod to adopt Quick Response (QR) Digital Payments in line with Paleng-QR Ph.This ordinance basically urges the market vendors and transport sectors to adopt the digital platform of payments through GCash, Paymaya and other approved mobile applications stated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Flor said.She said the ordinance will also support Mayor Alfredo ...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and Cosette Canilao, president and chief executive officer of Aboitiz InfraCapital, (l-r) meet at the Governor's Office on Thursday, February 2.*Richard Malihan photoAboitiz InfraCapital is proposing a P2.8 billion bulk water supply joint venture project with the Negros Occidental and Bacolod City governments, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said.Cosette Canilao, president and chief executive officer of Aboitiz InfraCapital, met with Benitez and Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson at the provincial Capitol on Thursday, February 2, to discuss the plan.The proposal is to put up the bulk water supply facility in Talisay City, which will also service the needs of Bacolod, Benitez said....

Former Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections said the person who posted the video of her berating drunk persons on the sidewalk during the Dinagsa Festival in Cadiz City that has gone viral could face libel charges.The video was posted with malice as it did not capture the entire incident, Guanzon said.“What you saw in the video posted on Facebook is untruthful,” she said.“They are trying to portray that I am abusive and violent which is not true, none of them were hurt,” she said.She said when she passed Magsaysay Street on her way home there were two people drinking Red Horse and one was waving his arm as he was smoking.“I told them not to smoke on the sidewalk as someone could get hurt and all of a sudden someone shouted ‘is this your side walk’,...

Fifty barangay captains from local government units in Negros Occidental completed the Certificate in Public Administration and Governance (CPAG) Scholarship Program and attended the completion rites at the University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos in Bacolod City, Tuesday, January 31.The CPAG Program is one of the scholarship categories under the Negros Occidental Scholarship Program (NOSP) Division of the provincial government, a press release said Wednesday.Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and UNO-R signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the scholarship that aims to boost the managerial and leadership skills of local leaders, which is also in collaboration with the Negros Occ. SP-Committee on Barangay Affairs led by Board Member Pepello.The scholarship also aims to provide an in...

An investigation is underway to determine the veracity of the claim of the municipal treasurer of Isabela, Negros Occidental, that about P3 million in cash and an undetermined amount in checks belonging to the town government were stolen from her house in Bacolod City.Nenette Mandadero Escarda, 60, reported that a robbery took place at her house at Las Palmas Subdivision in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City, on January 21, Capt. Dax Santillan, Police Station 6 chief, said.Escarda told the police that she had brought the cash and checks to her house, which she was going to deposit in the bank, Santillan said.She said the thieves entered her house through a window, he added.The question is why she brought the money and checks that were not hers to her house, Santillan said....