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Acting Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Acting Vice Mayor Thaddy Sayson (l-r)*Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran has been designated acting mayor of Bacolod City until September 25.Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is in the United States with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.No. 1 Councilor Thaddy Sayson is the acting vice mayor and will preside over the Sangguniang Panlungsod session on Wednesday, Familiaran said.Familiaran said Benitez designated him acting mayor until his return from the United States.Marcos is set to deliver the Philippine national statement at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, September 20, and is meeting with Filipinos and business groups during his working visit to the United States, Malacañang announced.*

Aurelio J. Valderrama Jr., newly elected president of the CONFED - Negros and Panay chapter, and outgoing president Raymond Montinola (l-r, standing), and Jose Ma. Montinola and former SRA administrator Rodolfo Gamboia (l-r, seated).*Aurelio J. Valderrama Jr., who heads the Vicmico Planters' Association Inc., was elected president of the Confederation of Sugarcane Farmers (CONFED) - Negros and Panay chapter on Monday, September 19.Also elected were Alfonso G. Gamboa of the Associated Planters of Silay-Saravia Inc. – vice president, Bernardo C. Trebol (First Farmers Association Inc.) – corporate secretary, Jose Maria B. Montinola (Vicmico Planters' Association Inc.) – associate corporate secretary, Nicolas P. Ledesma Jr. (First Farmers Association Inc.) – treasurer, and Ma. Regina B...

The body of the beheaded man found in Talisay City Saturday, September 17.*Talisay PNP photoThe body of a beheaded man was found along the access road in Hda. Sagrado 2, Brgy. Zone 16, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Saturday night, September 17.He was identified as Mario Demetrio, 48, of Barangay Singcang-Airport, Bacolod City.He was said to be the pimp who has last seen with a commercial sex worker before she was killed early this month.Col. Arthur Baybayan, Talisay City police chief, said the victim who was hogtied was found by residents in the area.The victim, who had no shirt on, was lying on his back and sustained injuries. His severed head had a gunshot wound.The police said that they believe that the victim was killed somewhere else and that his body was on...

The area where the couple was gunned down in Sagay City on Saturday, September 17.*Sagay PNP photoA couple and a woman died in separate shooting incidents in northern Negros Occidental in two days.Killed in Brgy. Rafaela Barera, Sagay City, on Saturday night, September 17, were Nobert Simon Bukaling and his wife, Hanna Grace.The couple, along with their 4-year-old daughter, were on board a motorcycle when they were attacked by a motorcycle-riding suspect.The suspect was identified by witnesses as 33-year-old Niño Andrin who rear-ended the victims’ motorcycle, causing them to fall to the ground, the police said.He then shot the couple several times, the poilice added.The husband and wife were rushed to Alfredo E. Marañon Sr. Memorial District Hospital but were declar...

The Negros Occidental provincial government has no plan to give rice allowance to its employees, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Sunday, September 18.It’s not in the provincial budget, the governor said, in reaction to a report from Manila quoting Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban as saying that the government will soon provide rice allowance to state workers to help them cope with the rising cost of living.Panganiban was quoted as saying that the Department of Agriculture will draft the implementing rules and regulations for the distribution of the rice allowance in compliance with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.Lacson said the rice allowance is a national government initiative, what is mandated for the local governments to implement is the ...

The Department of Social Welfare and Development distributed P6,923,000 in educational assistance payouts to 2,459 more indigent students in Western Visayas on Saturday, September 17.Of the beneficiaries 533 are elementary pupils, 478 high school students, 358 - senior high school and 1,090 – college, the DSWD reported on Sunday.Negros Occidental had the most number of beneficiaries at 839 who received P2,311,000. There were 187 beneficiaries at the elementary level, 173 – high school students, 138 – senior high school and 341 – college.The other beneficiaries of the payout in Western Visayas were in Aklan - 112 who received P265,000, Antique - 447 – P1.1 million, Capiz - 308 – P984,000, Guimaras - 56 – P116,000 and Iloilo – 697 – P2.1 million.*

Expect fuel prices to go down again on Tuesday, September 20.Diesel prices are expected to go down by P3.80 to P4 per liter, Unioil said in its advisory.Gasoline should have no price change to a rollback of P0.15 per liter, it added.Kerosene is expected to go down by P4.46 per liter.*

Nicanor Gerald Jison being proclaimed winner*Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) conducted its election for its director for District IX - Silay City and uncontested incumbent director Nicanor Gerald Jison was re-elected on Saturday, September 17.Jison was formally proclaimed winner by the CENECO District Election Committee headed by its chairperson, Rhodora Lo, secretary Floresita Mangaser and member Carmelita Tipon at the CENECO Silay Field Office, CENECO reported.Regular elections for District I (Bacolod North) and District VIII (Talisay City) were postponed since no candidates were qualified.A Special District Election date will be announced, the CENECO report said.*

The farmer who was arrested at a checkpoint in San Carlos City Saturday, September 17.*San Carlos PNP photoA farmer was arrested for alleged possession of a firearm at a police checkpoint at CL Ledesma Avenue, Brgy. Palampas, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Saturday night, September 17.Nabbed was Nemecio Nuevo, 47, of Brgy. Quezon, San Carlos City.The police were conducting a checkpoint when they saw in plain view that the suspect was carrying a gun.Confiscated from the suspect’s possession was a .22 caliber revolver with six live ammunition.The suspect is now detained at the custodial facility of the San Carlos City Police Station and will face charges for illegal possession of a firearm, the police said.*