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PDEA photoAnother suspected illegal drugs high-value target was arrested in a joint buy-bust operation at Barangay 1, Bacolod City, Friday, April 23.The suspect was identified as Jobel Villasis, who yielded six sachets of suspected shabu worth P408,000 with an estimated weight of 60 grams.The operation was conducted by drug enforcement agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Negros Occidental and personnel of Bacolod Police Station 2.The suspect will face drug charges.*

House Minority Floor Leader Stephen Paduano said Friday, April 23, that he is pushing for an increase in the budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC ) for insurgency cleared barangays, amid calls from some lawmakers for its abolition.The calls came after NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade was accused of red tagging community pantry organizers.“We would want NTF-ELCAC officials to give details as to where and how the funds are being used and how their vilification tactics translate to having more communist rebels turning their backs on insurgency," Deputy House Speaker Michael Romero said Friday.“The rampant unlawful profiling and obvious red-tagging of organizers of community pantries by officials of the NTF-ELCAC are simp...

Andy Alvarez photos“It will be a super battle royale” should former Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez decide to challenge Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia in the 2022 polls, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Thursday, April 22.Benitez registered to vote in Bacolod Thursday amid calls for him to run for mayor of the city.“I would like to keep my options open and the first step is transferring my (voter) registration from Victorias to Bacolod…Let’s just wait for the succeeding steps,” Benitez said.Benitez said the overwhelming clamor for change and the call for him to run for mayor of Bacolod has been unexpected.The clamor cannot be ignored, he said.However, when asked if he has shelved plans to run for senator, Benitez said anything can happen.“The public’...

It looks like with the United Negros Alliance-Love Negros coalition, there will be few heated political battles in the 31 towns and cities of Negros Occidental in the 2022 polls.Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante, UNegA secretary-general, said the status quo is likely to remain for most incumbent officials from the governor, congressmen, board members down to the mayors in 2022.That is because UNegA and Love Negros by recognizing the equity of the incumbent will not be fielding opponents against the present officials.The only two areas where there may be battles for mayoral posts are in the towns of Toboso and Isabela, Escalante said.Mayor Richard Jaojoco is ending his third term in Toboso and it looks like his wife, Madonnah, may run for mayor but there are also other int...

The police intercepted a Bacolod City active COVID-19 carrier in Aklan Thursday, April 22, Col. Manuel Placido, city police director, said.The Bacolodnon was swabbed for a COVID-19 RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test as a requirement to go to Batangas but without waiting for the release of his results he left Bacolod Wednesday night, Placido said.The man tested positive for COVID-19 but before Bacolod health authorities could pick him up Thursday morning to be quarantined it was learned that he left for Aklan on his way to Batangas, City Administrator Em Ang said.Ang, who is also the executive director of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center, said they immediately asked the police to use their network to intercept the patient.“We requested the A...

The Bacolod City and Negros Occidental governments are harmonizing their respective data and operations in a new approach to curb the spread of COVID-19, a press release from the Bacolod City Public Information Office said Thursday, April 22.Officials of Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center – Task Force (EOC-TF), the Provincial Health Office (PHO), and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) met Tuesday, April 20, to discuss important matters about the coordination process between the two local government units (LGUs), it said.Bacolod City Administrator Em Ang, who is also EOC executive director, said the coordination meeting will be weekly between the two LGUs to synchronize their operations.The city and provincial governments will be sharing ...

BCPO photoAn alleged “love triangle” led to the killing of a 44-year-old man in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, Thursday, April 22.Killed was Branel Casas of Purok Paghidaet in Mansilingan.His body was found buried in a vacant lot in CarmenVille Subdivision.Based on the initial police investigation, the victim went to the area and had a quarrel with the suspect identified as 73-year-old Wilfredo Sadaba, who then struck Casas with hardwood.He also hacked the victim in the head with a cane cutter.Responding police officers arrested the suspect at the Terra Nova Subdivsion in the village.The suspect admitted to the killing of the victim.Police is looking at jealousy as the motive for the killing.*

Capitol photoThe COVID-19 molecular laboratory at the Valladolid District Hospital compound at Barangay Tabao, Valladolid town, Negros Occidental, has finally been granted permission to operate.The Department of Health has issued a License to Operate to the Safeguard DNA Diagnostics Inc. and it can begin operations immediately, Negros Occidental provincial administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) testing laboratory for Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction has been granted a license to operate until the end of the year.Earlier, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine gave the laboratory a pre-licensing proficiency test for SARS-CoV-2 detection rating of 100 percent.The molecular laboratory in southern Negros Occidental is needed, especi...