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Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose  Lacson is urging students returning to face-to face classes on Monday, August 22, to be mindful not just of COVID-19, but also of dengue.“We want you back in school healthy and safe," Lacson said on Sunday.Bacolod City is on alert for the opening of classes, Mayor Alfredo Benitez also said.There are 12,368 or 97.60 percent of the teaching and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education - Division of Negros Occidental who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, DepEd Negros Occidental spokesperson Ian Arnold Arnaez said.He also said 13 percent have received booster shots.“It was March of 2020 when schools sent their students home at the onset of the COVID pandemic.  And now, after two school years of online and modu...

A woman was shot to death at Prk. Sigay, Brgy. 2, Bacolod City, early Saturday, August 20.Killed was 27-year-old Ericka Jane Castaneda.Police said that the victim was walking at the footwalk with her companion when she was attacked by a masked suspect who shot her five times.The suspect fled after the killing.The police are still investigating the incident.*

A scene of the crime int Brgy. Buluangan.*San Carlos PNP photoA “love triangle” triggered the  attack on a couple while they were asleep in Brgy. Buluangan, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Friday night, August 19.The victims were identified as Evelyn Concha, 31, and Julieto Ugdiman, 44, of Calatrava town.They sustained gunshot wounds and were rushed to the San Carlos City Hospital. They are now in a stable condition.They were shot by the suspect identified as 29-year-old Charles Brandi-ase, who is also from Calatrava, with an unknown firearm. He then fled after the shooting.Two days later, on Sunday, August 21, the suspect surrendered to Bacolod City authorities at Taculing Road, in Brgy. Taculing.He was then turned over to the San Carlos police, who are lo...

Three planters' groups reiterate their confidence in Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr.'s integrity.*Negrense sugar planter Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr., who was replaced as planters’ representative on the Sugar Regulatory Administration Board, on Saturday, August 20, called on everyone to support the new SRA board members and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.While leaders of three planters groups thanked him for “his forthright and selfless service to the sugar industry during his brief stint in the SRA”. Enrique D. Rojas - president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, Raymond M. Montinola - president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers, and Danilo A. Abelita - president of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers in a joint statement issued ...

Members of the Federation of Urban Poor (FedUp) mark Ninoy Aquino Day in Bacolod City.*Members of the Federation of Urban Poor (FedUp) in Negros Occidental, clad in yellow and waving  Philippine flags, marked Ninoy Aquino Day  by laying flowers at the foot of his statue at Araneta Avenue  in Bacolod City City on Sunday, August 21.Ninoy Aquino Day is held every August 21 to mark the assassination of former senator Beningo “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.  at the Manila International Airport, now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,  in 1983.Aquino, a longtime political opponent of then president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was returning to the Philippines after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States when he was shot in the head at the tarmac of the airport.“Heroism ...

The CLMMRH Cardiovascular Surgery and Intervention Team saves the life of a 73-year-old female.*CLMMRH photoThe Cardiovascular Surgery and Intervention Team of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City  performed its first Temporary Transvenous Pacemaker Insertion at its  Critical Care Unit, which saved the life of a 73-year-old famale, Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH chief, said Sunday, August 21.The patient was suffering from complete heart block and was saved after she underwent the procedure on August 17 and as of Sunday was doing well, he said.It is an ideal procedure for patients with complete heart block when a pacemaker, a small electronic device that regulates the heart beat, is inserted into the patient’s body, Drilon said.The C...

Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr.*Negrense sugar planter Aurelio Gerardo “Bodie” Valderrama Jr., who has been replaced as planters’ representative on the Sugar Regulatory Administration Board, called on everyone to support the new Board of Directors and the president.“At the onset, I was very clear that I serve at the pleasure of the President. As representative of planters, I have one objective, and that is the best welfare of the stakeholders of the sugar industry. I thank all planters who supported me in this endeavor, and I call on everyone to support the new Board of Directors and the President,” Valderrama told DIGICAST NEGROS on Saturday, August 20.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reconstituted the Sugar Regulatory Board with three new appointees.He appointed ...

Teleperformance (TP) Philippines, a leading global group in digitally integrated business services, which also has a branch in Bacolod City is once again Great Place to Work-Certified in 2022. This makes TP Philippines the first, the largest, and the only company in the country to be Great Place to Work-Certified for five straight years, a press release from the firm said Friday, August 19.The TP branch in Bacolod City has close to 3,000 employees. The Great Place to Work Institute recorded 85 percent responses from TP Philippines in the Trust Index Survey, which is part of the rigorous certification process conducted annually by the institute and a definitive global standard of what it means to be a great workplace.The survey evaluates companies based on their em...

The abduction and rape of a 23-year-old woman was “fabricated.”This was confirmed Friday night, August 19, by Lt. Arlyn Torrendon, head of  the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD).She said that the police further investigated the case and established that the incidents did not happen.The victim was “very cooperative” in their probe, Torrendon added.Torrendon said that they learned that the woman was having a family problem, which they could not disclose.She also said that the victim had undergone a medical examination, and has a hematoma that was self-inflicted.They understand the woman, “we see her as a victim. We have interventions to help her cope with her problem,” she added.In an earlier statement, the woman alle...