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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 COVID...

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 messa...

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 Industr...

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 concla...

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 zon...

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 from...

Inter-Agency Task Force-Visayas chief implementer Mel Feliciano is urging individuals showing early symptoms of COVID-19 to seek immediate medical attention.“Strict monitoring of symptomatic individuals is important for them to avoid developing moderate to severe symptoms that could lead to further hospitalization, and worst - death,” said Feliciano, who oversees the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center Task Force.Bacolod City has had 4,749 persons hit by COVID-19, 4,248 of whom have recovered, 379 are active and 122 have died, the Department of Health reported Monday (October 26).In October, data from the Bacolod EOC-TF showed that 157 out of 706 individuals with flu-like symptoms tested positive for COVID-19, which translates into a positivity rate of 22.24 percent.As...

There has been a spike in COVID-19 cases in three cities in Negros Occidental, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, October 27.The increase in cases has been noted in the cities of Kabankalan, Cadiz, and San Carlos, he said.The spike in cases in Kabankalan City occurred at a relocation site where numerous people were hit by the virus, he said.This was exacerbated by the fact that a COVID-19 positive person joined the wake of a person who died and infected others present, he said.Diaz said the spike in Cadiz City occurred when City Health Office employees were hit by the virus, Diaz added.The increase in cases in San Carlos can be attributed to the fact that it is a port area where vessels from Cebu dock, he said.However, Diaz said the overall COVID-19...