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Richard Malihan photoThe flag at the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City is flying at half staff for the provincial head of the Department of the Interior and Local Government who passed away at past 11 p.m. Wednesday, October 28, after being hit by COVID-19.Ferdinand Panes, 60, passed away at the St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo after suffering from a heart attack and becoming comatose, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, October 29.He had gone home to Iloilo on October 2, was diagnosed with COVID-19, and was intubated at the St. Paul’s Hospital on October 13, Diaz added.Diaz said about 30 DILG staff members in Negros Occidental were tested for COVID-19 and one casual employee tested positive.The casual employee was quarantined at the Mambukal Resort...

City PIO photoThe city government of San Carlos has developed its owned technology for contact tracingThe city’s Information Technology and Computer Services Office (ITCSO) came up with a Quick Response (QR) code application for easier and faster contact tracing.The application was launched this week.Joseph Binghay, ITCSO Information Technology Officer II, said the application, named Viral Assessment and Monitoring System, was developed amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the city to make contact tracing easier and faster.He added that the formulation of the ordinance is underway so the use of the application will be implemented in the city.An executive order directing the government offices and barangays to use and implement the contact tracing was already issued by ...

Department of Health and Department of the Interior and Local Government officials in Western Visayas are endorsing the appeal of Mayor Evelio Leonardia to the national Inter-Agency Task Force to de-escalate the status of Bacolod City from general community quarantine (GCQ) to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), City Administrator Em Ang said Wednesday night, October 28.President Duterte on Tuesday, October 27, announced that Bacolod would remain under GCQ until the end of November.Dr. Marlyn Concovar, DOH regional director, has announced that Bacolod is qualified to be under MGCQ subject to observance of gatekeeping parameters, Ang said.Leonardia in his appeal for the city to be placed under MGCQ said there is already a significant indication of a continuous reductio...

Contributed photoFloods brought on by Typhoon Quinta destroyed P36 million in rice crops and farm animals in Negros Occidental, provincial officials said Wednesday, October 28.Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said initial reports from three cities and four towns showed that destruction to rice crops hit P34,950,127.68Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena placed the loss of farm animals at P1,051,258.16 in six towns and two cities.Masculino said the rice crop destruction has affected 1,735 farmers and 8,312 hectares of rice lands in Negros Occidental.Initial reports showed that rice damage hit Sipalay City, Cadiz City, Bago City, Hinoba-an, Moises Padilla, Isabela, and Pontevedra, Masculino said.Decena said farm animals killed during the floods were chicken...

PVO photoA rescue center in Hinobaan town has provided temporary shelter for some livestock and poultry animals in southern Negros Occidental displaced by a flood brought on by Typhoon Quinta on Sunday, October 25.Local raisers were able to hurriedly bring their animals, hogs, cattle, goats and carabaos to the rescue center at Barangay Pook to save them from the floodwaters.Dr. Merie Ann Tolentino, Provincial Veterinary Field Unit–District 6 veterinarian, in a report, said many other animal raisers wanted to bring their animals to the Hinobaan Animal Rescue Center, however, due to very bad weather, only those from nearby areas were able to do so.The animal rescue center was donated by the provincial government. through the Provincial Veterinary Office. to the municipality o...

The police arrested a septuagenarian woman for possession of firearms at Don Jesus Village in Barangay Canturay, Sipalay City, on Tuesday, October 27.Nabbed was Noemi Espeleta, 70, of the said barangay.Sipalay City policemen swooped into the house of Mark Anthony Montilla to implement a search warrant when they saw an elderly woman who was “in a hurry and uneasy” at the back of the residence, a police report said.Espeleta, who was carrying a black sling bag was heading towards a bushy area, the police report said, adding that when one of the policemen approached her he saw a pistol in plain view.The elderly suspect yielded .380 caliber Taurus pistol with one magazine, a .38 caliber revolver with 30 live cartridges, seven cartridges of a .45 caliber pistol, five live cartrid...

Contributed photoFloods brought on by Typhoon Quinta caused P7.5 million in damage to rice crops and farm animals in Negros Occidental.Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said initial reports on Tuesday, October 27, from three towns and two cities showed that damage to rice crops hit P6,472,425 .96Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena placed the loss of farm animals at P1,051,258.16 in six towns and two cities.Masculino said the rice crop damage has affected 275 farmers in Negros Occidental.Initial reports show that rice damage in Sipalay City hit P147,398.16, Cadiz City P161,993.60, Hinoba-an P2,416,890, Moises Padilla - P1,180,256, and Pontevedra - P66,960, Masculino said.Decena said farm animals killed during the floods were chickens, pigs, goats, carabaos...

A laborer was shot to death by unidentified suspects at Barangay Bi-ao in Binalbagan town, Negros Occidental, on Monday, October 26.Police identified the fatality as Blas Urbano Jr., 47, and a resident of the barangay.Initial police investigation showed that the victim was walking from his home to his cousin’s house when he was waylaid by three unidentified suspects, who hid behind the sugarcane field.One of the suspects then fired at the victim, who succumbed to gunshot wounds on his head and back.Recovered from the scene were two empty shells of a .45 caliber handgun.The victim was declared dead by the physician of the Binalbagan Rural Health Unit.The police are still investigating the case.*

A Bacolod City Regional Trial Court judge Tuesday issued a 20-day restraining order enjoining the Bacolod City Water District and PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp. from implementing their joint venture agreement (JVA) until further orders from the court.Bacolod RTC Branch 45 judge Phoebe Gargantiel Balbin was acting on a petition filed by Bacolod Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Pepito Pico who are seeking the nullification of the JVA.The judge said granting the TRO is merely to preserve the status quo until the preliminary injunction is heard and determined, it having been made to appear that the acts of the defendants if not restrained would adversely affect water consumers and irreparable damage would be caused.She set the hearing of the application for a preliminary injunction...

303rd IB photosTwo alleged New People’s Army rebels belonging to the Central Negros Front – 1 surrendered to the Guihulngan City Task Force ELCAC headed by Mayor Carlo Jorge Reyes at his residence in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, Friday, October 23, Captain Kelvin Bayaban, 303rd Brigade civil military officer, said.The two were identified only as Mari, chairman of Kaugma-on Guihulngan City Chapter and Jomar, a member of a Central Negros 1 platoon of the Komiteng Rehiyon – Negros Cebu Bohol Siquijor, he said.The two said that aside from the unbearable hardships and hunger, they realized that their recruiter’s promise of “change” in their lives on joining the movement never came true, Bayaban added in a press statement.The surrender was made possible through the joint eff...