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The online campaign urging former Negros Occidental representative Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez to run for senator in 2022 has gained support.“We Negrenses have always wanted a senator for the province, and no better person than Cong Albee would best represent us,” Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said.Two Facebook pages - “Visayas for Albee Benitez - Senator 2022” and “Albee Negros” - surfaced late last week urging Benitez to run for senator in 2022.Sugar Board Member Emilio Yulo III said Saturday that “any additional warm body in the senate who will support the sugar industry is a welcome development.”“We know that the last bastion of the sugar industry has always been the Senate in the past few years so one more warm body is indeed good for the province of ...

Curfew from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., liquor restrictions and the home quarantine of persons below 15 years old and above 65 years old in Bacolod City will remain in March.These are contained in Executive Order No. 11, Series of 2021 extending Modified General Community Quarantine in Bacolod City until March 31, issued by Mayor Evelio Leonardia today, February 28.Under the EO, members of the vulnerable sector should remain in their residences at all times, except when indispensable for obtaining essential goods and services or for work in permitted industries and offices.Identified as members of the vulnerable sector are any person below 15 years old, above 65 years old, with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks regardless of age, pregnant women, and any person who res...

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian breaks ground for the CPSU Technical Vocational Institution in Valladolid Saturday as Valladolid Mayor Enrique Miravalles, CPSU president Aladino Moraca, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and other officials look on.*Richard Malihan photoSen. Sherwin Gatchalian and Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson joined the groundbreaking of the Central Philippine State University (CPSU) P8 million Technical Vocational Institution in Valladolid, Negros Occidental, Saturday, February 27.The CPSU intends to offer extension classes for information technology and agribusiness programs in Valladolid, CPSU president Aladino Moraca said.They cannot offer board courses yet because they need to comply with the requirements for an extension campus in Valladolid that could take about three y...

Photo from Senator Sherwin Gatchalian FB pageSenator Sherwin Gatchalian said Saturday, February 27, that he supports the opening of face-to-face classes in the Philippines.Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said in the whole world only 14 out of 200 countries have not resumed face-to-face classes.The Philippines is one of those 14 countries, and is also the only one in Asia that has not resumed face-to-face classes, said Gatchalian, who was in Valladolid, Negros Occidental.He pointed out that there is a big possibility that face-to-face classes can be held in Valladolid where there are no active COVID-19 cases.Teachers and parents are having a hard time with the current distance learning method, and there are a lot of student...

The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) has enjoined social media influencers to join the government’s massive campaign to increase the COVID-19 vaccination confidence among Filipinos.OPAV Assistant Secretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji”’ Gonzales today, February 28, underscored the influence of social media personalities, which can be put to good use in increasing awareness about the benefits of getting vaccinated against COVID-19.Social media influencers can greatly help in minimizing the disinformation going around about COVID-19 vaccines, Gonzalez pointed out in a press release.“We need to boost this advocacy to encourage the Visayan community and the Cebuano community to believe in vaccination because this is a crucial step taken by our government as we g...

Migrante-Europe has expressed its strong condemnation to the Duterte government’s plan of securing COVID-19 vaccines from the United Kingdom and Germany in exchange of lifting the employment cap for nurses to work in the said countries.“It is a shame that the Duterte government exploited the dignity of our Filipino nurses, making them as a bargaining tool for the utter incapacity of government regarding the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines,” said Marlon Lacsamana, Migrante-Europe Secretary General, in a press statement Saturday.The Duterte government who promised 5 years ago to the Overseas Filipino Workers to end the export of labor by providing jobs and just wages in the Philippines has once again showed its heartless and cruel treatment to our health care workers by treating them a...

BCPO photoSix persons, including “Peter Pan,” were arrested in separate buy-bust operations in Bacolod City that led to the recovery of P1.47 million worth of drugs.Nabbed along Alijis Road in Barangay Alijis Thursday night, February 25, was 28-year-old Gino “Peter Pan” Inventor, a high-value individual, of Barangay 1.He sustained gunshot wounds after he resisted arrest.The suspect opened fire at policemen during the buy-bust operation, a police report said.Seized from his possession were the 12 sachets of suspected shabu worth P680,000, P5,000 in marked money, a .38 caliber revolver with three live ammunition and one fired cartridge, and other belongings.In another operation Thursday, street-level individual Romeo “Junior” Imperial Jr., 21, and Christian John “Jan-...