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There was a 67.31 percent hospital bed occupancy for COVID-19 patients in all seven hospitals in Bacolod City on Thursday, April 29, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) reported Friday.The EOC, which continues to track the utilization rate of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in the seven hospitals, said 67.31 percent is much higher than in previous months.In February, the utilization rate in the seven hospitals was as low as 20 to 30 percent, a press release from the EOC said.“There is a total of 136 patients admitted in seven hospitals in Bacolod City, 95 [of them] or 68 percent are residents of Bacolod City. Consequently, the remaining 32 percent are coming from the municipalities and cities of Negros Occidental,” the EOC added in its report.This leaves 43 available ...

The Bacolod Regional Trial Courts and the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities will be operating with skeleton workforces of 30 percent from May 3 to 14, Bacolod RTC Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier said Friday, April 30.This is being done to combat the spread of COVID -19 at the Bacolod Hall of Justice, he said.It is also in compliance with a circular issued by Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo Friday, stating that all courts and judicial offices in areas under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) will be physically open with a workforce of at least 25 percent from May 3 to 14.Gesmundo, in Administrative Circular 29-2021, said he was leaving the exact workforce figure to the executive justices and executive judges to determine.Bacolod City and Negros ...

MISSING TEEN. The family of 15-year-old April Joy Garcia of Barangay Banago, Bacolod City, is asking for help to find her.*A Bacolod City family is asking the public to help locate a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for days now.April Joy Garcia of Barangay Banago left their house on April 26 to go swimming at a resort in Barangay Pta. Taytay in Bacolod City.That was the last time her family saw her.The family, in a police blotter report, said the cellular phone of the minor could not be reached, and that they “exerted effort to find the girl but to no avail.”Renel Luces, the girl's half-brother, said that his sister only turned 15 on April 13.His sister was with her 21-year-old boyfriend when she was last seen, Luces said.He said they could not also find t...

Image from PixabayVarious groups will mark Labor Day on Saturday, May 1, with a “tribute to the struggles and sacrifices made by workers, unions, working-class movements in advancing dignified labor.”San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, chairperson of Churchpeople and Workers in Solidarity, said: “unions have achieved extraordinary victories in terms of promoting workers’ rights. But in the past few decades, neoliberal economic policies have aggressively trampled on these rights. Anti-labor policies such as privatization, trade liberalization, contractualization, deregulation, and denationalization continue to wreak havoc on people’s lives especially the working class.”He also said, “Filipino workers are among the most affected by the onslaught of COVID-19. Government apathy and...

Bacolod PIO photoAn Iloilo-based BPO company that offers virtual medical assistance is expanding its operations in Bacolod City starting June.Vanessa Belleza, president and chief executive officer of Xilium Professional Services, informed Mayor Evelio Leonardia of their company’s plans during a virtual meeting Thursday, April 29, a press release from the Bacolod Public Information Office said.Leonardia said Barangay 31 Punong Barangay German Bullolaza was instrumental in arranging the virtual meeting and thanked him for helping bring in a new investment to Bacolod.Belleza said it will be their third branch in the country.The branch in Bacolod will be located at the ground floor of the La Luz Building at Lacson Street in Barangay Mandalagan.They will hire about 150 e...

Bacolod PIO photoBacolod City officials led the distribution of financial assistance to the victims of the fire that hit Purok Neptune in Barangay Singcang-Airport at rites at the Jose R. Torres Elementary School evacuation center, Friday, April 29.Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Rep. Greg Gasataya led the Department of Social Services and Development distribution of P10,000 each in financial assistance to families whose houses were destroyed, and P5,000 each to families whose houses were damaged, a Bacolod Public Information Office press release said.House sharers will also receive P3,000 each, it added.The affected families are now staying in classrooms, instead of in the tents at the covered court, to prevent the transmission of C OVID-19, the pr...

Talisay PIO file photoThe 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew in Negros Occidental will remain in full force and effect in May to curb the current surge of COVID-19 cases in the province.That was stressed by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson in Executive Order 21-24, Series of 2021 which he issued Thursday, April 29, extending the duration of the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) over Negros Occidental until May 31.President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, April 28, approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to remain under MGCQ in May, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.Apparently, the number of COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are not enough fo...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued an executive order Thursday, April 29, extending the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) in Bacolod City to May 31, which includes curfew from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. and a partial liquor ban.Leonardia, in Executive Order No. 21, Series of 2021, also strongly urges the public to limit mass gatherings such as movie screenings, concerts and other entertainment activities, religious services, and work conferences to 30 percent of the seating or venue capacity in view of the rising number COVID-19 cases in the city.The mayor said while Bacolod City has maintained its MGCQ category, its constituents must not be complacent, especially with the spike of COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks.The Department of Health in Western Visayas has classified Baco...