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The Bacolod Casino Filipino has been temporarily closed for disinfection and sanitation after 79 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 since May, its branch manager Jose Marciano Bautista said Sunday, June 13.The Casino, located at L ‘Fisher Hotel at Lacson Street, stopped operations Saturday and may hopefully reopen by mid-week, he said.The Casino is doing everything it can to help its employees, Bautista said.All of the about 360 organic and non organic employees of the Casino have already been tested for COVID-19, he said.“Rest assured that we are doing everything to contain this, it’s more on community acquired. If ever there is a transmission here we are stopping it,” he said.“Rest assured that the Casino is very, very safe because we follow all the protoco...

There is a possibility that Bacolod City will be placed under the more stringent Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine by June 16 because of the surge in its COVID-19 cases, City Administrator Em Ang said Sunday, June 13.Ang, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center executive director, said the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is set to deliberate on the quarantine status of Bacolod, Negros Occidental and other areas of the country Monday, June 14.Ang said it is possible that Bacolod City could be placed under MECQ but they really do not know yet, IATF has yet to deliberate on it.A lot of the rules set under MECQ are already being enforced by the city government, including limiting public gatherings to 30 percent of a venue’s capacity, she said.Bacolod did not request fo...

The Cebu provincial government is regulating the entry of individuals coming from Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Bohol as it strengthened its measures against the spread of Covid-19.Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in Executive Order No. 22 issued on June 12 and will take effect at 12:01 am of June 14, said that persons coming from the three provinces who will enter Cebu through all of its ports of entry will be required to present a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result taken 72 hours before departure from the place of their origin or a negative rapid antigen test result taken at least 48 hours before departure.The Department of Health is charged with the responsibility of conducting a rapid antigen test in all ports of origin on all perso...

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonarda amended Saturday, June 12, Executive Order No. 28 that sets the guidelines for hospital-supervised home quarantine (HSHQ) for asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City.Leonardia pointed out that Bacolod has been experiencing a spike and rebound in COVID-19 infection for the past 14 days of May that has continued in June prompting the Department of Health to classify the city as a “high-risk” area.The amended guidelines state that those who are qualified to apply for hospital-supervised home isolation/quarantine must have all of the following current conditions:*The patient is a confirmed asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 case only (meaning that he does not manifest moderate, severe, or critical symptoms of COVID-19, which would require facili...

Riverside Medical Center Inc. (RMCI) announced that it can no longer accept high risk Obstetrics-Gynecology patients and those with COVID-19 or coronavirus-like symptoms effective Sunday, June 13.This is based on the functional capacity of the COVID-19 designated facility of the hospital, it said in a public advisory.Such patients are advised to seek admission in an alternate healthcare facility, it said.The non-Covid and ancillary areas of RMCI continue to accommodate both outpatient services and patient admissions, it added.The Medical Arts Building also remains open for scheduled consultations with doctors, the advisory said.“We will issue an advisory as soon as there is a change in our current situation,” it said.*

Bacolod PIO photoNegros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia called on the public to join forces in the battle to regain freedom from COVID-19 as the Philippines marked its 123rd Independence Day on Saturday, June 12.“The independence gained in 1898 and the fight we had to take to redeem our freedom in 1946 proved that of all the endowments we have as a people, our independence is among the most costly and the most demanding of all," Lacson said.“As we commemorate this second Independence Day amid a pandemic, we as a people are given an exceptional opportunity to honor the independence won a century and decades ago by taking part in this battle against an enemy that threatens not just our country, but the entire humanity,” he said.He said I...

The Negros Occidental governor’s office at the Capitol in Bacolod City will reopen Monday, June 14, after the rest of its staff tested negative for COVID-19, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Sunday, June 13.The office was closed late last week for disinfection after two employees in-charge of attending to indigent patients tested positive.Meanwhile, Mayor Neil Lizares ordered the closure of the City Mayor's Office and the Executive Assistants Office staring Monday June 14, until further notice to give way to a thorough disinfection of the premises and contact tracing of COVID-19 affected individuals.Business will proceed as usual once disinfection and contact tracing are done and the results of the swab tests of employees who had close contact with infected individu...

BCPO photoA senior citizen was killed in a hit-and-run incident at the Alijis-Murcia Road in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod City, early Saturday, June 12.Killed was Oliva Porceso, 69, of ECC Villas of the said barangay.The victim was crossing the road when she was hit by a Toyota sedan driven by an unidentified person, who immediately sped away after the incident.Police have called on the driver to surrender to the authorities.*

Kabankalan PNP photoMore than P500,000 worth of drugs was seized from a Kabankalan resident in a buy-bust operation at Barangay 1 on Friday, June 13.Nabbed was Francisco “Frankie” Ala-onio, 47.Recovered from his possession were 21 plastic sachets of suspected shabu weighing 80 grams and worth P544,000, drug paraphernalia, a cellphone, a motorcycle, personal belongings, and a .45 caliber pistol with one live ammunition and magazine loaded with six live ammunition.The items were subjected to laboratory examination at the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office crime laboratory, while the suspect, who was in police custody, was also subjected to a drug test.The suspect will face drug and illegal possession of firearms charges.*

The ”Negrosan Youth for Ping Lacson” urged the senator to run for president in 2022 at a press conference in Bacolod City on Saturday, June 12.Romeo Castillo Jr., co-convenor, said their members come from different youth groups in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.The group said “with the strongly-worded statements of Sen. Ping Lacson urging the current administration to stand against the bullying by China, and the massive corruption despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are one with him in calling for more public vigilance”.They are appealing to Lacson not to retire, and to carry on his advocacies by running for president, Castillo said.“We believe Senator Ping Lacson carries the cry of every Filipino,” the group said.“Please continue to safeguard the Philippine n...