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Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued an executive order Wednesday, April 14, ordering the creation of a committee to investigate the cutting of decades-old trees at the Bacolod South Road at Barangay Singcang-Airport.“We assure the public that we will get into the bottom of this. I have issued an executive order creating a joint committee to investigate this incident and to find out what exactly happened. And what is most important now is we must make sure a similar incident does not happen again,” he said.The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Bago City had granted the Department of Public Works and Highways a permit to cut 35 trees to make way for a shoulder paving project.However, the DPWH stopped the cutting of the trees following an outcry from netizens...

Photo from Dr. Julian Rizaldy Raca's FBMembers of the Bacolod medical community are mourning the death of a surgeon hit by COVID-19 who passed away Monday, April 12, despite having being vaccinated for the virus.Dr. Julian Rizaldy Raca Jr., 57, was hit by COVID-19 but had comorbidities, Dr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod Emergency Operations Center deputy for medical data and analysis, said.Raca had received two doses of Sinovac vaccines.“His cause of death has nothing to do with his vaccination, it is not secondary to the vaccine he received. It’s actually COVID and it is due to the complications brought about by his comorbidities,” Sorongon said.Dr. Hector Gayares, in a Facebook post on the passing of Raca, said “COVID-19 has victimized another frontliner.”Raca is believ...

NOCPPO photoThe police is investigating the suspicious presence of two vehicles near the area where the Negros Occidental provincial consultant on hospital operations was killed in San Carlos City.Mariano Antonio “Marton” Cui III, 62, was shot by a sniper as he was leaving his office at Emerald Arcade at F.C. Ledesma Avenue in San Carlos City at about 8 p.m. Monday, April 12.CCTV footage obtained by the police show a white Toyota van and silver grey Starex with no license plates or conduction stickers parked in the area on the day of the crime, PLt. Abegael Donasco, Negros Occidental police spokesperson, said Wednesday, April 12.A police special investigation task force headed by Col. Romy Palgue is investigating the killing of Cui.The police have no substantial evidenc...

Capitol photoFive Cauayan councilors and six of their staff have tested positive for COVID-19, Cauayan Mayor John Rey Tabujara said Wednesday, April 14.They are all asymptomatic, he said.The Cauayan Municipal Hall will be closed this week for disinfection, and employees will work from home, he said.On Tuesday, the town had 127 COVID-19 cases.He said the surge in cases occurred after a Cauayan resident who attended a cockfight in Andulauan, Ilog, tested positive for COVID-19.This led to contact tracing and massive testing for the virus, he said.Two sitios were also locked down to prevent the spread the virus in Cauayan. This has affected 115 families in Sitio Tuod, Barangay Isio, and 70 families in Sitio Mangga, Barangay Guiljungan.The mayor said contact trac...

The Bago city hall and hospital remain closed as more city government employees test positive for COVID-19.There are 60 COVID-positive Bago City government employees currently under quarantine, Mayor Nicholas Yulo said Wednesday, April 14.Yulo said when the City Hall was closed down there were only about 14 employees who tested positive but the number has increased on contact tracing.He will hold a Zoom meeting Friday to decide when the city hall and hospital can be reopened, he said.They will decided whether to extend the closure of the city hall or reopen on April 19, he said.The city government employees hit by the virus are 40 at the hospital, 15 from the City Engineer’s Office, two traffic enforcers and one each from the General Services Office, Cash Division and C...

NOCPPO photosA man, who posed as a woman on Facebook to lure and rob unsuspecting victims, was arrested in a police entrapment operation at Crossing Gaston, Barangay Punta Mesa in Manapla, Negros Occidental, on Tuesday, April 13.The suspect identified as 27-year-old Alvin Amandog of Hda Bayabas in Barangay Tortosa is a sugarcane worker.The police said the suspect posed as a woman and took fictitious identities to seduce victims and lure them for a meet-up, then robbed them at gunpoint.The Manapla police received complaints on the suspect’s modus operandi.During his arrest, the suspect yielded two sachets of suspected shabu, two live ammunition and one empty shell of a .38 caliber pistol, a victim’s cellphone and a sling bag.The suspect is now in police custody.C...

The Don Salvador Benedicto Memorial District Hospital in La Carlota City has suspended its hospital services until April 16 after six more members of its staff tested positive for COVID-19, Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Wednesday, April 14.The emergency room, administrative offices, Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program (NOCHP) office and radiologic and laboratory department at the hospital will be closed for disinfection, he said.However, the hospital will continue to cater to rabies vaccinations at its outpatient department and the pharmacy will continue to dispense medicines.The emergency room will still cater to patients considered extreme emergency cases.Diaz said during the mandatory RT-PCR testing of 47 personnel at the hospi...

Twenty-one out of 61 Bacolod City barangays have been COVID-19 free for two weeks, the city Emergency Operations Center reported Wednesday, April 14.COVID-free from April 1 to 14 are barangays 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41 and Punta Taytay, it said.There were 58 new COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City on Wednesday, the Department of Health also reported.The 57 were local cases and one was an Authorized Person Outside Residence.Bacolod City had 524 active COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the DOH added.*

BCPO photoMore than P500,000 worth of drugs were recovered while five persons were arrested in separate buy-bust operations in Bacolod City in two days.Nabbed at Purok Malipayon in Barangay Taculing Tuesday night, April 13, were Jim Estacio, 30, of Barangay Granada, and Nico Calates, 33, of Barangay Alijis.The suspects sold a plastic sachet of shabu worth P20,000 to a police poseur buyer.Recovered from the suspects were eight sachets of suspected shabu, with an estimated weight of 45 grams and worth P306,000.The operation was conducted by the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit-6 (RPDEU-6), and Bacolod Police Station 6 in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6.The RPDEU-6, along with Police Station 7 policemen, also nabbed James Andrew Estañol,...