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Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña*The Bacolod Election Registration Board on Monday, July 19, approved the applications of 9,957 persons to vote in Bacolod, City Election Officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña said Tuesday, July 20.She said of the 10,199 voter registrants, the 9,857 were unopposed applicants.She said the registration of 242 others, including former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, have been opposed and subjected to hearings.Benitez has been directed to file his position paper within three days in response to the opposition to his becoming a registered voter of Bacolod City.Caña said the ERB hopefully will be able to decide whether to approve or disapprove the applications of the 242 to be registered voters of Bacolod City by the end of the month.T...

Some 14 families fled from their homes following encounters between government soldiers and suspected rebels at Sitio Guinobatan in Barangay Caningay, Candoni, Negros Occidental, Tuesday, July 20.2nd Lt. Weann Sandag, 15th Infantry Battalion (IB) civil military operations officer, said the residents left their houses for their safety, and barangay officials have provided relief assistance to the affected families.The soldiers had overrun the rebels’ harbor site that can house 30 to 40 persons, Sandag said.The soldiers were conducting combat operations in the area following the reported presence of the New People’s Army (NPA) when they encountered the armed men that resulted in a firefight, she said.Hours later, the soldiers who were pursuing the rebels encountered them agai...

DPWH photoThe 49.68- kilometer P8.095 billion Bacolod Negros Occidental Economic Highway (BANOCEH) that starts in Barangay Sum-ag, Bacolod City, and ends in Victorias City is 41.55 percent complete, Regional Director Lea Delfinado of the Department of Public Works and Highways said Tuesday, July 20.Work began in March 2016 and target completion date is December 2024, she said.The total project cost is P8.095 billion and the total released amount is P4.059 billion, Delfinado said, adding that the 41.55 percent project completion is based on total project cost.The BANOCEH involves the opening, concreting and widening of 38.763 kilometers of road, construction of 10 new bridges, provision of slope protection works and improvement of the existing 11.149-kilometer road and six b...

Twelve staff at the Department of Tourism Western Visayas regional office in Iloilo City have tested positive for COVID-19.The DOT Region VI Office will remain closed until further notice, a public advisory issued Tuesday, July 20, said.The 12 have been isolated and most of them are asymptomatic, while others have mild symptoms, the advisory said.“Our transacting public can still reach us through the email address posted on the DOT VI Western Visayas Facebook page,” it added.

The police will act on complaints of the unabated movement of vehicles during curfew hours in Bacolod City, Col. Manuel Placido, Bacolod police director, said Tuesday, July 20.Bacolod City’s curfew is from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. under General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions.However, there have been complaints of vehicles still moving and people walking on streets in Bacolod during curfew hours.There are also reports of speeding vehicles along the highway in the northern side of Bacolod.Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said he would bring the concern to Placido.Placido said Bacolod policemen and the Negros Highway Patrol Group will be alerted on the matter.Negros Occidental’s curfew is from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.*

Bacolod PIO photoBacolod City and Negros Occidental held Pfizer vaccination drives on Tuesday, July 20.The Negros Occidental provincial government administered second dose Pfizer jabs at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City and the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran also oversaw the vaccine rollout at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) Tuesday, a press release from the Bacolod Public Information Office said.The vaccine rollout was held simultaneously at the BCGC Lobby and the MassKara Hall.Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., OIC of the City Health Office, said availing of the Pfizer vaccines at the BCGC were Overseas Filipino Workers under priority grou...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he has not joined the call of some governors for President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in the 2022 elections.This is because he does not know if Duterte can be president again and that is an issue he wants resolved first, Lacson said Monday, July 19.If Duterte is the vice president and the position of president becomes vacant can he assume the post? Lacson asked.“I think that should be resolved first before we can even endorse him to be the vice president,” Lacson said.Lacson, who is a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said theNPC has not named its presidential and vice presidential bets for 2022, yet.At least 24 provincial governors have supported the resolution issued by the ruling Partido ng De...

BY MATE ESPINABacolod mayoralty candidate, former Rep. Albee Benitez (right), with Kendall Ang and Romy Lopez (l-r) at the Rotary Club of Bacolod North induction rites.*Former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez told Rotarians the attention of the current administration in Bacolod City is on how to perpetuate themselves in power rather than on how to govern properly.Benitez spoke at the 49th induction of the Rotary Club of Bacolod North held at Hacienda Pag-asa in Cadiz City, where he was made honorary member of the club Tuesday, July 20.Kendall Ang is the incoming club president and Romy Lopez is the outgoing president.Present at the affair were Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, and prominent businessmen of Bacolod ...

Inflation, low wages and unemployment are the top economic concerns of labor, Wennie Sancho, General Alliance of Workers Associations secretary general, said Tuesday, July 20.“Amid the pandemic, the economic situation of the majority of workers in the country has become worse and miserable,” Sancho said in a press release, ahead of the State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte next week.He said hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers stranded because of the COVID-19 pandemic have joined the country’s massive army of unemployed.The latest Pulse Asia Survey shows that as of April 2021, the country’s unemployment rate nationwide was at 8.7 percent that would translate to about 4.4 million unemployed individuals, Sancho said.Hunger and poverty is on the rise as the...

Imam Abulkhair Carcauga*The Muslim community in Bacolod City that marked Eid al-Adha or the Festival of the Sacrifice on Tuesday, July 20, prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, Imam Abulkhair Carcauga said.Carcauga, overall Imam of Muslim communities in Bacolod, said they wore face masks and observed social distancing during their prayers in compliance with the government prescribed health protocols.They also did not hold their traditional games as a deterrent against COVID-19, he said.He stressed the need for sacrifice amid the pandemic, and the need to trust in God.Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated as a regular holiday, honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God's command.