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The Commission on Elections in Negros Occidental is holding satellite voter registration activities in various parts of Negros Occidental this month, Provincial Election Officer Fatima Ausan said Saturday, March 6.Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon earlier said voter registration for the 2022 polls has been low because of the COVID-19 pandemic.The number of new voters registered in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as of the January 18 Election Registration Board hearing was 17,119.The Comelec has set satellite registration sites in Barangay II in Victorias City, Barangay Mabini in Pontevedra, Camalanda-an in Cauayan and Canlamay in Ilog on March 10; Barangay III in Victorias City on March 11; Barangay II Poblacion in Pontevedra, Barangay 1 Poblacion in Hinigaran, and Baranga...

The doctors being vaccinated with Sonovac vaccines at the Bacolod City Government Center.*Andy Alvarez photo“We are on the road to deliverance,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia said as five doctors and a nurse were the first to be vaccinated with COVID-19 Sinovac vaccines in Bacolod City this morning, March 5.Leonardia said the arrival of the 6,300 doses of Sinovac vaccines in Bacolod City today is the start of a giant leap towards reaching herd immunity against COVID-19 in Bacolod.It is historic that the first COVID-19 case and the first vaccination against the virus in Western Visayas happened in Bacolod City, Leonardia said at rites at the Bacolod City Government Center.“Our leading and prominent doctors have now been vaccinated. These are the people who understand what this is a...

The Negros Occidental Provincial Human Resource Management Office (PHRMO) head has been transferred to the Office of the Governor following complaints lodged against her, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, March 5.The officers and members of the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees, and job order and contract service workers, in a petition submitted to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson have called for the removal of Palic as PHRMO head for her alleged “tyrannical attitude, inhuman treatment and her being the cause of miseries on the lives of the provincial government workers.”Diaz said there were 479 employees who signed the petition, but the number has increased to 560 and more petitions are being submitted that necessitated immediate action.Lacson ordered the tra...

San Carlos LGU photoDrug surrenderers, barangay officials, public utility drivers, and policemen underwent drug tests in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, this week.The San Carlos City Anti-Drug Abuse Council continued its Oplan Tapok Hangyo (Taphang) in Barangay Prosperidad where surrenderers were profiled and tested for drugs on Thursday, March 4.The drug tests also included barangay officials, employees, and tanods.Ana Liza Macaraya, legal assistant at the City Legal Office and City Anti-Drug Abuse Council secretariat, said the drug tests covered 74 individuals.This is in preparation for the application of the barangay to be declared a drug-free village by the Regional Oversight Committee on Dangerous Drugs-Western Visayas.SURPRISE DRUG TESTOn March 3, at l...

The Bacolod Regional Trial Court executive judge sentenced three Bacolod residents to life imprisonment today, March 5, for the sale and possession of illegal drugs.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 sentenced Kimberly Ruffin Berbor, alias Kim, Argie Millan Tacluyan and Alberto Macaya Pastera, alias Berting, to life terms for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.Berbor was sentenced to two life terms for the sale of .458 grams of shabu to a police poseur buyer for P2,000 at Purok Acacia 1, Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod, on Dec. 18, 2019, and possession of 143.952 grams of shabu.She was also ordered to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale and P1 million for possession of the illegal drugs.The court was told that sh...

PDEA-6 photoOperatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6 Special Enforcement Team seized more than P400,000 worth of shabu and arrested three high-value targets during a drug bust at Rizal Street, Barangay 26 in Bacolod City, Thursday evening, March 4.Nabbed were Gian Carlo “Rambo” Natavio, Georgie Garces and Benjamin Rosales, who are considered by authorities as high-value targetsShey Tanaleon, PDEA-6 information officer, said the suspects yielded 60 grams of suspected shabu worth P408,000.The suspects will be charged for the sale and possession of illegal drugs.The drug bust operation came a week after the policemen in the city hauled in P1.76 million worth of drugs in weeklong operations.*