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EDC Negros Oriental facility head, Debonaire Mamhot (left), recently turned over the RT-PCR machines to Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo (right) and the Negros Oriental IATF group. Raffy Cabristante photoNegros Oriental now has a much needed molecular laboratory that will soon be conducting 500 COVID-19 tests a day.Negros Oriental provincial government, Energy Development Corp. (EDC), and Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) officials inaugurated the province’s first molecular testing center today, October 28The testing facility will enable more timely reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing of COVID-19 swab samples from local residents once it completes all accreditation requirements and gets the green light from the Department of Health, Richar...

Around 46 families in Moises Padilla were evacuated to the town’s auditorium after a flash flood hit the stockyard of Barangay 1 around 10 pm Sunday, October 25.The evacuation and relief operations were led by Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo, and other local officials, along with the Disaster Response Office, the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.As of this writing, the local government is still conducting damage assessment. (Photos from Moises Padilla LGU)

Persons who need to secure medical certificates in order to be issued with a “Travel Authority” document will be required to register in the Bacolod Contact Tracing (BaCTrac) System starting October 26, in accordance with a new order from the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC- TF).This new health protocol was recommended by the EOC-TF, the central body in Bacolod that collects and harmonizes relevant data that are transformed into policies against COVID-19, a press release from the city government said.In line with this new order from the EOC, City Health Office (CHO) officer-in-charge Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr. issued Memo Order No. 102320-01.The said CHO memo discourages chest X-ray as a requirement for the medical certificate, as it “does not detect ...

BGen. Noel Baluyan (center) hands over the flag to MGen. Eric Vinoya (right) for the turnover of comannd to the new commander of 302nd Infantry Brigade, Col. Leonardo Peña (left). PIA photoThe Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division has installed Col. Leonardo Peña as the new command head of 302nd Infantry Brigade (IB).Peña officially installed on Oct. 22 in a change of command ceremony held at the headquarters of the 302nd Brigade, Camp Leon Kilat, Tanjay City.Peña succeeded BGen. Noel Baluyan who was promoted as the new Assistant Division Commander of the 3ID at Camp Peralta, Jamindan, Capiz.Peña is a former chief of Unified Command Staff (CUCS) of the Western Mindanao Command, while Baluyan has served as the 302nd IB commander for one year and two months.In his mess...

Fastcraft trips between Bacolod and Iloilo cities will resume at the end of the month but those headed for towns and cities of Negros Occidental will be swabbed for COVID-19 tests, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today.They will be swabbed and quarantined, anyway their test results will be out in three days, he said.The provincial government is also willing to swab those headed for Bacolod City if they cooperate for the good of everybody, Diaz added.However, he said mandatory COVID-19 testing of those headed for Bacolod is up to the city government. Bacolod is a highly urbanized city that is not under Negros Occidental.Travel between Bacolod and Iloilo cities had earlier been halted because of the spike in COVID-19 cases.Jose Venancio Vero, Maritime In...

Pope Francis announced today the elevation of Capiz Archbishop Jose Advincula, former bishop of San Carlos in Negros Occidental, to cardinal at a consistory on November 28.The pope announced the appointment of 13 new cardinals, including Advincula, during his Sunday Angelus.Advincula is the ninth Filipino cardinal, following cardinals Orlando Quevedo, Luis Antonio Tagle, Gaudencio Rosales, Jose Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Jaime Sin, Julio Rosales and Rufino Santos.Advincula was ordained priest of Capiz on April 14, 1976, appointed Bishop of San Carlos on July 25, 2001 and was consecrated on September 8 of the same year.On Nov. 9, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Advincula to Archbishop of Capiz.Advincula is 68 and is among the nine new cardinals eligible to vote in a c...

Photos from Moises Padilla LGUThe P1.7-million prime mover of Moises Padilla municipal government was swallowed by the flash flood that hit the town on Sunday night, October 25.The heavy equipment, which was purchased in 2008, was found downstream at the Binalbagan river the following day, approximately 50 meters from where it was parked, near the Livestock Auction Market at Barangay 1.The prime mover was the only heavy equipment of the local government that was being used to transport other heavy equipment during project implementation.*

Lakawon Island. Photo from traveloka.comThe COVID-19 pandemic has displaced 2,637 tourism workers in Negros Occidental, Provincial Tourism Officer Jennylind Cordero said Monday, October 26.Updated data from 17 out of 31 local government units in Negros Occidental showed that among those displaced were 1,218 workers from accommodation facilities, 68 from tour and travel agencies, 68 tour guides, 156 in the tourism and transport services, 123 at sports and recreation facilities, 68 at wellness centers, 716 in the food and beverage sector and 220 in other resorts, she said.The 17 LGUs with displaced tourism workers are the cities of Bago, Cadiz, La Carlota, Kabankalan, Escalante, Sagay, Sipalay, Talisay, Victorias and San Carlos, and the municipalities of Hinigaran, La Castellana...

DA-6 photoHog raisers from Western Visayas (WV) have shipped P255.2 million worth of live pigs to Luzon from June this year as the area was affected by the dreaded African swine fever, Remelyn Recoter, Department of Agriculture-Region 6 director, said Monday, October 26.Since WV is 151 percent self-sufficient in swine, based on the second quarter data of the Philippine Statistics Authority, local raisers with the intervention of the different local and Manila traders and various local government units in the region were able to market about 23,367 pigs worth P255.2 million to Luzon, Recoter said, citing the report of Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI)-Veterinary Quarantine Service Region 6."Our farmers have improved their income as they ship their surplus production to ASF red zo...

A baby girl drowned in a creek near her home in Barangay Guinpana-an, Moises Padilla, Sunday morning, October 25.Reynald Horegue, head of the Moises Padilla Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the one-year and three-month-old Princess Joy Eustañio was left under the care of her eight 8-year-old sibling, who momentarily left her unattended to get something.When the sibling returned, the baby was nowhere to be found. The child thought that Princess was taken by their aunts. When they found out that nobody took the baby, they searched for her at the creek, since their home was located near the water.Horegue said that their team and the barangay officials immediately responded to the scene.Later, the body of the baby was fished out of the water a few meters...