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Hinigaran PNP photoA retired police officer was arrested for having a cache of weapons and ammunition in his possession in an entrapment operation at Mila’s Restaurant in Barangay 4, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, 6 p.m. Tuesday evening, June 29.Nabbed was Demosthenes Fernandez of Villa Angela Subdivision, Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City. He used to be a police intelligence officer assigned to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).He sold a 9mm caliber Ingram submachine pistol with 28 live ammunition to Maj. Jake Barila, Hinigaran police chief, and was arrested after allegedly failing to show registration papers.Barila said the suspect contacted him for the sale of a weapon and magazines.On his arrest, Fernandez, who was tagged by the police as a loose fir...

Planeside honors were given to a Negrense Philippine Air Force pilot who died in a helicopter crash in Capas, Tarlac, at the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Wednesday morning, June 30.Maj. Eraño Belen, 34, of the Philippine Air Force died along with five others when the S70i Black Hawk helicopter they were on board crashed during a night flight training on June 23,Maj. Cenon Pancito III, 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson, said.The remains of Belen, who is a native of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, was brought to his residence in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, Pancito said.He graduated valedictorian of the Philippine Military Academy Masidlak Class of 2010.He will be buried at Heavens Gate Cemetery in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, at 10 a.m. Sun...

PRISON BREAK. The five prisoners of the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City who escaped on Tuesday, June 29.*NODJ photosFive prisoners of the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City broke out of their cells and escaped Tuesday, June 29.Lawyer Jairus Anthony Dogelio, spokesperson of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-6, said a manhunt operation for the escapees, who are considered high-risk because of the cases they are facing, is ongoing.The BJMP-6 is offering a P50,000 reward to anyone who can give information that would lead to the capture of the five prisoners, at P10,000 for each inmate, he said.The escapees were identified as:Francisco Epogon of Cauayan town, who is said to be part of the notorious Epogon robbery group that is based in...

Placing Negros Occidental and Bacolod City under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in July won’t make much difference in the lives of residents since most of its restrictions are already being enforced in the province and city under the current Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), officials said Tuesday, June 29.Negros Occidental and Bacolod City will be under GCQ in July, one notch stricter than its current MGCQ, subject to appeal by the local government unit (LGU), Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced Monday night.In response Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued Executive Order 21-33, Series of 2021 Tuesday, placing Negros Occidental under GCQ from July 1 to 31 to help curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases.Negros Occidental had 1,899 active COVID-19 cases Tues...

Bacolod City’s COVID-19 deaths this month hit 54 on Tuesday, June 29, City Administrator Em Ang said.Ang, who is also the Emergency Operations Center executive director, said the June deaths are the second highest in a single month since the pandemic started. The highest was 76 in September 2020.The COVID-19 deaths in Bacolod City are now 331, she said.Bacolod also had 3,476 COVID-19 cases in June for a total of 13,255 since the pandemic started, Ang said.Bacolod City had 56 new COVID-19 cases for a total of 1,856 active cases on Tuesday, the Department of Health also reported.Meanwhile, Dr. Julius Drilon, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital chief, said the COVID-19 positivity rate based on the swab samples from the Bacolod City Epidemiology and Survei...

The graduation and moving up exercises for school year 2020-2021 will be on July 12 to 16, Ian Arnold Arnaez, Department of Education Negros Occidental spokesperson, said Tuesday, June 29.There will be no actual graduation and moving up ceremonies because of the ban on face to face interaction with students, he said.However, virtual graduations and moving up ceremonies may be held in areas where there is adequate Internet connectivity, he said.Arnaez said making students go out to have their pictures taken for yearbooks is being discouraged because of COVID-19 restrictions.Some students who are not graduating will be given time to submit their modules beyond July 12 to 16, he said.That is because in some areas the distribution and collection of student modules were dela...

The Negros Occidental police recorded its first coronavirus fatality.He was a 42-year-old staff sergeant assigned at the Sipalay City Police Station, Lt. Abegael Donasco, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office information officer, said Tuesday, June 29.The policeman became ill on June 18 and was swabbed for an RT-PCR test the following day.His positive result came out on June 19.Two days later, on June 21, he had difficulty in breathing and was rushed to a hospital.On June 26, he succumbed to the virus.While the confirmed patient did not report for duty since he went ill, the other policemen at the station went on quarantine and were swabbed for COVID-19 tests, Donasco said.There have been 177 Negros Occidental policemen who have tested positive COVID-19 as ...

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) aims to have 2 million registered voters in Negros Occidental for the May 2022 polls, Acting Provincial Elections Supervisor Ma. Fatima Aspan said Tuesday, June 29.Negros Occidental had 1,889,200 voters in 2019 and at present it has 1,806,912 or 82,288 less, she said.The registration of news voters is still ongoing giving them time to try to reach their target, she said.There are 32 city and town Comelec offices in Negros Occidental.The ongoing nationwide voter registration will end on September 30.*