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The CLMMRH COVID-19 Critical Care Unit*The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) owes the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City P326,667, 895 in COVID-19 claims and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, CLMMRH chief financial officer Shareen Junsay Caelian said Sunday, June 20.The P326 million does not include the about P67 million non-COVID related claims of CLMMRH, she said.The total unpaid COVID-19 claims of the hospital for the treatment of 640 patients is P277.6 million from February 2020 to the present, Caelian said.PhilHealth has only paid P4.2 million plus or 1.5 percent of CLMMRH ‘s total COVID-19 claims, she said.“While hospitals and doctors are being accused of benefiting from this pandemic, t...

Bacolod PIO photoMayor Evelio Leonardia has ordered the suspension of all public celebrations during the Feast of St. John the Baptist (San Juan Bautista), including the traditional practice of water splashing, in Bacolod City on Thursday, June 24, to stem the spread of COVID-19.Leonardia in Executive Order 32 Series of 2021 issued Saturday, June 19, suspended any form of festivity, excursion, picnic, revelry, and/or similar public gatherings in open places such as roads, alleys, parks, squares, shorelines, beaches, and the like, at any time of the day on June 24.Any traditional custom of water splashing and similar acts committed in public, such as public streets, sidewalks, workplaces, churches are also prohibited, he said.Violators of the ban on water splashing will face...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Sunday, June 20, that Negrenses will be inoculated with the 11,700 doses of Pfizer vaccines that recently arrived in Negros Occidental after the Sinovac vaccines of the province are fully utilized.Negros Occidental had 166 new COVID -19 cases on Saturday and 144 on Sunday for a total of 310, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.The province now has 2,633 active COVID-19 cases, it addedBacolod City had 191 new cases on Saturday and 65 on Sunday for a total of 256. It now has 2,270 active COVID-19 cases, the DOH added.Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the Sinovac vaccines are targeted to be fully consumed early this week, with the provincewide mass vaccination set to continue Monday and Tuesday.“LGUs (local government units) wil...

Moises Padilla LGU photoMoises Padilla residents who will be inoculated with Covid-19 vaccines Monday, June 21, will get three kilos of rice from the municipal government, Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo said Sunday, June 20.She said the three kilos of rice will be given to individuals and not families, “so if five members of the family will get their vaccine shots, they will receive a total of 15 kilos of rice,” she added.She said that this is their way of encouraging the residents to get their Covid-19 vaccine shots so they can reach the target 70 percent of the population.She admitted that it has been a challenge to conduct information dissemination to residents as eight of its 15 villages are mountain barangays.She said that the residents could not be gathered for a meeting ...

The number of health workers who tested positive for COVID-19 in Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental, have increased to 10, Mayor Ernesto Estrao said Sunday, June 20.However, he said the Rural Health Unit and birthing center in Hinoba-an that were closed last week will reopen soon since all of their staff have already been tested for COVID-19 and those who had negative results can resume work.Last week, seven out of 12 newly identified COVID-19 cases in Hinobaan were personnel of the RHU.The four others were family members who were considered close contacts and one Hinoba-an local government employee.Estrao said three more health workers also tested positive for COVID-19.The RHU and birthing center personnel who tested positive are nurses and midwives, Estrao said.*

BCPO photoMore than P350,000 worth of drugs were seized while four suspects, including two street-level individuals, were arrested in separate buy-bust operations in Bacolod City over the weekend.Nabbed at East Homes 5 in Brgy. Mansilingan Saturday afternoon, June 19, were John “Paul/Long Hair” Villegas, 38, who was said to be a street-level individual and the subject of the operation; Marc Felix Tad-y, 29, of Helvetia Heights, Brgy. Villamonte; and Reynaldo Lepania, 43, of Villa Angela, also in Brgy. Villamonte.Confiscated from their possession were nine sachets of suspected shabu weighing 25 grams and worth P170,000, P1,000 in marked money, P700 in cash proceeds, and a pouch.In Barangay Felisa, street-level individual Ronnel “Beboy Buang” Balaquit was arrested at Purok To...

San Carlos LGU photoThe local police conducted an underwater clean-up drive at Dap Dap Wharf in Sipaway Island, Barangay San Juan, San Carlos City in Negros Occidental Saturday, June 19.The San Carlos City Police Station along with the Maritime Patrol Group, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the City Environment Management Office (CEMO)- Coastal Resource Management Division spearheaded the clean-up drive dubbed as “Scubasurero.”This was due to the number of visitors who may have thrown their trash within the vicinity that needed to be taken out to sustain the area’s marine biodiversity.The 31 participants collected six sacks of wastes materials, such as plastic containers, bottles, cups, fishing nets, used face masks and shields, clothing, tin cans, cement sacks, sanitary nap...