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Mayor Alfredo Benitez holds a dialog with the affected families at Purok Katilingban in Barangay Punta Taytay, Bacolod City, Wednesday afternoon.* Bacolod PIO photoMayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez defused mounting tension that could have turned violent at Purok Katilingban in Barangay Punta Taytay, Bacolod City, where a Supreme Court order for the demolition of eight houses of informal settlers was set to be enforced on Wednesday, December 14.Benitez and City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. went to the area to hold a dialog with the barangay officials, implementing sheriff Ariane Magallanes, the families whose houses were to be demolished, and the authorized representative of the possessor of the land for the temporarily halt of the demolition.Pancho Arizala, one of the resid...

The registration of voters in the towns and cities of Negros Occidental for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections has been higher than usual, Provincial Elections Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria said Wednesday, December 14.The average registrants in the town and city Comelec offices have been from 50 to 70 a day, he said.The registration of voters resumed on Monday, December 12, and will end on January 31.Ananoria is encouraging residents who wish to vote in the Oct. 30, 2023 polls to register early, he said.During the previous registration period there were long lines of registrants in the last four days and some were unable to register, he said.The Comelec has also set the following satellite registration schedule:

The drug recoveries from the fisherman.*PDEA photoAround 50 grams of suspected shabu were confiscated from a fisherman during a buy-bust operation at Purok Miracle, Brgy. 6 in Bacolod City on Wednesday, December 14.Arrested during the operation was Benny Balasabas Buenaventura, alias James, 21, of Purok Kagaykay, Brgy. 2, Bacolod City.Items confiscated from him were eight sachets containing illegal drugs worth P340,000, a black pouch, and the buy bust money.Drug cases are being readied against the suspect.*

Three brothers were arrested in a drug bust operation at Buenavista Phase 2, Brgy. Guinhalaran, Silay City, Negros Occidental on Tuesday, December 13.Nabbed were 58-year-old Edsel Catanghal and his brothers, Angelito, 56, and Jerry, 41.They yielded 25 grams of suspected shabu worth P170,000 and the P3,100 buy-bust money.They are now in the custody of Silay police, facing drug charges.*

The Department of Health has upgraded the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital (TLJPH) in Silay City, Negros Occidental, into a Level II hospital effective December 12.“There are more services that we can now provide”, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Wednesday, December 14.The hospital will now have a licensed Intensive Care Unit, including a neonatal ICU and units for high risk pregnancies, he said.The hospital will also have a pulmonary unit with a pedia and internal medicine pulmonologist, he said.Lacson on Tuesday also led the inauguration of the TLJPH Dialysis Unit that has a 15-seat capacity.The target is to further upgrade the TLJP into a Level III hospital, he said.Dialysis centers for provincial government hospitals in Kabankalan Cit...

The NIR bill was approved by the Technical Working Group of the House Committee on Local Government co-chaired by Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District).*Rep. Mercedes Alvarez (Neg. Occ., 6th District) said it is likely that the bill seeking the creation of the Negros Island Region, which includes Siquijor, will be approved by the House Committee on Local Government in January.It is likely to be approved since the consolidated bill is co-authored by all the representatives of Negros Island and Siquijor, said Alvarez on Wednesday, December 14.The NIR bill was approved by the committee’s Technical Working Group (TWG) co-chaired by Alvarez on Tuesday.Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, who is not in favor of the NIR, still has not sent his position paper to the TWG, she...

Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran has been hit with COVID-19 and is under home quarantine.He had a sore throat and fever on Sunday and immediately self-isolated, Familaran said on Wednesday, December 14.His fever was from 39 to 40 degrees on Sunday and Monday and on Tuesday he tested positive in a rapid antigen test.Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran has been hit with COVID-19 and is under home quarantine.He had a sore throat and fever on Sunday and immediately self-isolated, Familaran said on Wednesday, December 14.His fever was from 39 to 40 degrees on Sunday and Monday and on Tuesday he tested positive in a rapid antigen test.On Wednesday his fever had subsided but he will continue to remain under home quarantine, Familiaran said.Familiaran said he has h...