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Mayor Evelio Leonardia announced Wednesday, February 24, that the Department of Health has approved the COVID-19 vaccination plan of Bacolod City.“We were informed by the Department of Health (on Tuesday) that our vaccination plan is okay, it’s a go, so we are set,” said Leonardia, who was one of the speakers at the Livable Cities Challenge Laboratory virtual session on “Getting Cities Ready for Vaccines.”Leonardia said he has been telling Bacolodnons that vaccination is the answer to a return to normal life. “As soon as we get to normalize, we will be back to action, we will be back to business, and Bacolod will continue to be one of the fastest growing cities in the Philippines,” he said.Leonardia, who is also president of the League of City of the Philippines, said of Bacolo...

A Negros campaign for vice president Leni Robredo to run for president in 2022 will be launched in Bacolod City today, February 25.“Negros for Leni” is an independent, multi-sectoral coalition of citizens who are looking at the 2022 Presidential elections and have decided to make a choice, former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, co-convenor of the group, said today, February 24.Negros for Leni will be on Facebook and will wage a signature campaign. Volunteers will be most welcome to help in this effort, Coscolluela said.“We want to see a President who is competent, caring, decent and inspiring, someone who meets the criteria that will make us proud of our President, and will make us proud to be Filipinos. We believe that one person who possesses the right qualitie...

A Negros Oriental Regional Trial Court judge has found five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency guilty of indirect contempt of court in connection with an alleged fake buy-bust operation in Barangay Looc, Dumaguete City.Negros Oriental Branch 34 Judge Amelia Lourdes Mendoza sentenced PDEA agents Nelson Muchuelas, May Ann Carmelo, Jose Anthony Juanites, Cheryl Mae Villaver and Realyn Pinpin to six months imprisonment at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Dumaguete City, and to pay fines of P30,000 each.The court has also issued warrants of arrest for the five.However, since the judgment for indirect contempt is subject to review, the judge fixed the bond to stay execution of judgment at P200,000 each with the condition that they abide by the judg...

BCPO photoMembers of the Sangguniang Panlungsod have called on law enforcement agencies to investigate the spate of killings in Bacolod City.The resolution calling for the Bacolod City Police Office, the National Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and all other law enforcement offices in the city was passed in their regular session today, February 24. It was authored by lone opposition Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr., chairman of SP committee on human rights.There have been at least seven shooting incidents that happened in the city in January alone and another six in February, Gamboa said.The latest incident was on Monday night, February 22, when a suspected robbery group member was gunned down inside his home at Barangay Cabug.Gamboa said...

Six Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from Western Visayas, two of whom are from Negros Occidental, found positive for the United Kingdom COVID-19 variant recovered in Manila before they returned to their home provinces, a Department of Health official said today, February 24.The six - three from Iloilo, two from Negros Occidental, and one from Capiz - who tested positive for the UK variant on their arrival in Manila were quarantined and recovered there, Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe, regional epidemiologist of the Department of Health in Western Visayas, said.They were mostly seafarers who arrived from the United States, Europe and the Middle East, he said.One of the two Negrenses was already negative for the virus when she arrived in Negros Occidental, and was quarantined for anoth...

Two fishermen found a dead man at sea near Barangay Sum-ag in Bacolod City today, February 24.The two fishermen identified as 33-year-old Joey Sanchez of Cauayan and 23-year-old Charlie Chavez of Barangay Sum-ag said they found the body while they were navigating the waters between Guimaras and Sum-ag.They tied the cadaver to their fishing boat and brought it to the Sum-ag River.The male victim was said to be five feet in height, around 20 years old, and was already bloated.The cadaver was brought to a funeral home in Barangay Mansilingan.Authorities are still determining the identity of the victim.*

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Information, Communications and Technology will conduct a public hearing Thursday next week on complaints against the construction of two DITO Telecommunity Corp. (DTC) cell sites in Bacolod City, Councilor Al Victor Espino said today, February 24.Espino said the hearing that will be held at the SP session hall will be on the complaints of residents against the construction of DTC cell sites in Purok Himaya, Barangay Alijis, and St. Therese Avenue in Doña Juliana Heights, Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City.Residents of both areas are opposing the construction because of perceived radiation from the DTC cell sites and the structural integrity of its towers, Espino said.Nestor Velez, acting head of the Office of Building Official, said...

The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, a Department of Health-run hospital in Bacolod City, will suspend the operations of its operating room (OR) for two days.In an advisory today, February 24, Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH medical center chief, said the hospital management will partially close the Operating Room (OR) Complex effective immediately.The OR complex will undergo thorough terminal cleaning of its facilities to serve its patients effectively and efficiently, he said.He also said that the hospital will continue to accept patients who are considered to be an “extreme emergency case only.”“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused the public. Rest assured that the operations will immediately resume within 48 hours,” he s...

Members of the Federation of Urban Poor (FedUP) in Negros Occidental will gather at the statue of Ninoy Aquino at Araneta Street in Bacolod City at 6 a.m. Thursday, February 25, to mark the 35th EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary.February 25 is an annual public holiday in the Philippines to commemorate the peaceful demonstrations that led to the overthrow of then president Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.“We refuse to let EDSA People Power die so we will insist to celebrate it,” Joy Jarabelo, FedUP provincial coordinator, said.They will observe COVID-19 health protocols as they pray and lay flowers at the foot of the Aquino statue, she said.This year’s theme is “Pasanyugon ang Paghiliusa sa Pagbilin sa Demokrasya (Strengthen unity to keep democracy)”, she said.Meanwhile,...