Top Stories

Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines arriving at the Bacolod Silay Airport tomorrow, March 5.*NIATF photoPresidents of medical societies will be among the first recipients of the Sinovac vaccines in Bacolod City at rites set at the lobby of the Bacolod City Government Center at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 5, City Administrator Em Ang said tonight, March 4.The 3,200 vials of Sinovac vaccines for health frontliners in two Bacolod hospitals are scheduled to arrive at the Bacolod Silay Airport at 9 a.m. Friday, Ang, who is also the executive director of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center, said.Among the first to be vaccinated at the BCGC are Dr. Michael Salvador, president of the Philippine College of Physicians-Negros Occidental Chapter and Kanlaon Medical Society, and Dr. Miguel Sarabia, ...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said today, March 4, that he will appeal to the national government to include frontliners at Negros Occidental hospitals in the initial COVID-19 vaccine roll out.Dr. Jane Juanico, head of the DOH Infectious Disease Section in Western Visayas, said only health frontliners of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and the Riverside Medical Center Inc. in Bacolod City will be the initial recipients of the vaccines, none has been allocated for the rest of Negros Occidental yet.“Our order of prioritization is our COVID referral facilities, specifically level 3 DOH, LGU and private hospitals,” Juanico said.Lacson said they are appealing for the inclusion of frontliners in second and first level hospitals in Negros Occidental, too.He is...

Panay Today photoA human rights lawyer, who has handled cases of activists in Negros Occidental and of the “Sagay 9,” was stabbed by unidentified men in Iloilo City on Wednesday night, March 3.Lawyer Angelo Karlo Guillen, secretary-general of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) in Panay Island, was tailed by two masked men and stabbed with a screwdriver.The perpetrators then took his bags, which contained his laptop and case documents, and fled.He was rushed to the hospital for treatment and is now in stable condition.Rene Estocapio, NUPL vice president for Visayas, in a statement, said Guillen served as counsel in various public interest and human rights cases. He was also one of the 37 petitioners questioning the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act o...

Sugar industry leaders are taking steps to enjoin all stakeholders to support mass vaccination against COVID-19.In a recent virtual conference facilitated by Sugar Regulatory Board Members Dino Yulo and Roland Beltran and TatakKalamay, industry leaders were briefed by distributors of Covovax vaccine, a recombinant vaccine developed by Novavax Inc. and distributed locally by Faberco Life Sciences Inc.Yulo said it is vital for the industry to support mass vaccination so that “we can protect our stakeholders and industries heavy in sugar use can also go back to normalcy.”Tourism, restaurants, schools that are heavily affected by the pandemic are among our biggest consumers and the soonest we can go back to normalcy through mass vaccination, the better it is for the industry and fo...

Fifty-one of the 61 barangays in Bacolod City have had no coronavirus cases for two weeks.The city’s Emergency Operations Center reported today, March 4, that these villages have stayed coronavirus-free from February 19 to March 4.These are barangays 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, Alijis, Cabug, Felisa, Granada, Montevista, Pahanocoy, Punta Taytay, Sum-ag, Tangub, and Vista Alegre.The remaining 10 villages with active COVID-19 cases are Alangilan, Banago, Bata, Estefania, Handumanan, Mandalagan, Mansilingan, Singcang-Airport, Taculing, and Villamonte.As of March 3, Bacolod logged 69 active cases, with 5,836 total confirmed cases, 5,581 recoveries, and ...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said today, March, 24, that he has not made a choice on whom he will support for president in 2022.The Negros for Leni group is urging Vice President Leni Robredo to run for president, while supporters of Davao Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio have hung “Run Sara Run” tarpaulins in Bacolod City.Lacson said he is not part of any of the groups.“I will just wait until they have filed their certificate of candidacy,” he said, to make a choice.He said as long as the Sara tarpaulins are not on provincial government property, that is okay.“If they put it on the perimeter fence (of the Capitol Lagoon Park) then I will have to ask them to take it out,” he said.*

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said today, March 4, that he has asked Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz to act on a petition of some Capitol employees for the removal of Anabelle Palic as Provincial Human Resource Management Office (PHRMO) head.“Just like before I don’t want to take it up in public but I’ve asked the provincial administrator to oversee this issue,” he said.The governor assured that some action will be taken.Diaz on Wednesday told DIGICAST NEGROS a win-win solution is being sought.The officers and members of the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees, and job order and contract service workers, in a petition submitted to Lacson called for the removal of Palic as PHRMO head for her alleged “tyrannical attitude, inhuman treatment and her b...

The Commission on Elections Second Division has annulled the proclamation of the Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Barangay Winaswasan, Calatrava Negros Occidental.The Commission in its resolution also cancelled the certificate of candidacy of Judielyn Padilla Camighod.The decision was served on Camighod and No. 1 SK Kagawad Janneth Benzie Cantila took over, Provincial Comelec Officer Fatima Ausan said today, March 4.On April 18, 2018, Camighod in her COC declared that she is a registered voter of Winaswasan and eligible to run for SK chairperson, the Commission’s resolution said.The Commission ruled that Camighod committed material misrepresentation as she is not a registered voter of Winaswasan and a registered member of the SK.The respondent also failed to file her...