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National Inter-Agency Task Force Resolution No. 101 has failed, it has caused an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental and unscrupulous persons have cashed in on it by selling fake negative RT-PCR results, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Thursday, March 25.Eight COVID-19 RT-PCR results submitted by persons returning to Kabankalan City have been reported, he said.Diaz said he has screenshots of passengers bound for the province negotiating for the purchase of fake RT-PCR test results.The provincial government previously required passengers entering Negros Occidental to be swabbed for RT-PCR tests on arrival and quarantined until their negative COVID-19 results were released.Under Resolution 101, the provincial government can only require negative...

Pope Francis named Cardinal Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz the new Archbishop of Manila Thursday, March 25.Advincula succeeds Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, whom the Pope had appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the Vatican on Dec. 8, 2019.Saint Pope John Paul II appointed Advincula Bishop of San Carlos on July 25, 2001, and he was consecrated bishop on September 8 of that year.After 10 years, Pope Benedict XVI transferred him to the Archdiocese of Capiz as archbishop on November 9, 2011.Pope Francis named him the country's ninth cardinal in October last year.Advincula, 68, was born on March 30, 1952 in Dumalag, Capiz.The Vatican said with 3 million Catholics in more than 80 parishes, Manila is the largest archdiocese of the Phili...

The Guihulngan police conduct a dialog with the rescued families who were affected by the firefight between government forces and rebels this week.*Guihulngan PNP photoSixty-eight residents have fled from their homes after they were caught in the crossfire between state forces and rebels during their encounter at Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, early this week.Guihulngan Mayor Carlo Juan Reyes, in a statement sent Thursday, March 25, by his office to the Philippine Army, commended the skills and bravery of the soldiers and the police in neutralizing the alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the March 23 clash that led to the deaths of 10 guerilla fighters and arrest of two suspected rebels.The mayor said that 68 evacuees were given shelter by ...

BCPO photoA suspected arms dealer was killed in a joint police entrapment operation after he allegedly resisted arrest at Manville Subdivision in Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod City early Thursday, March 25.Killed was Aljohn “Jimboy” Cabalhin, 31, of Purok Seaside, Barangay Tangub.The suspect sold a .45 caliber pistol to a poseur buyer for P2,000, but when he was about to hand the firearm, he noticed that he was actually dealing with a policeman and opened fire, the police report showed.The suspect was killed when the cop returned fire. No policeman was hurt.Recovered from the suspect were one homemade .45 caliber pistol with cartridge and magazine loaded with four ammunition, one homemade .380 caliber pistol with one cartridge and magazine loaded with six ammunition, one ...

Kabankalan City Mayor Pedro Zayco who briefly went on home quarantine after being exposed to a City Health Office COVID-19 positive employee tested negative for the virus Thursday afternoon, March 25.He was swabbed for an RT-PCR test Thursday morning and the negative result came out at 3 p.m., he said.Zayco said the CHO nurse who tested positive is in charge of administrative work and does not attend to patients.He was at a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program meeting attended by the CHO employee last week, Zayco said.The mayor said he was not seated close to the CHO worker but to set an example to the 15 others at the meeting he underwent an RT-PCR test along with them.Kabankalan had 14 active COVID-19 cases on Thursday.The lifting of the rule on testing passengers ...

The number of COVID-19 positive Cadiz City government employees and policemen have increased to eight, Mayor Salvador Escalante said Thursday, March 25.The mayor had temporarily closed the Cadiz City Hall 2 on Wednesday, March 24, after four employees and two policemen tested positive for COVID-19.He said on Thursday two more city government employees tested positive and contact tracing is underway.Escalante also said Cadiz City Hall 2 that was closed for disinfection will reopen on Monday.Cadiz City currently has 27 active COVID-19 cases, 19 of whom are individuals who recently returned from Manila and Cebu.*

Archie Alipalo photoThe first 1Sambayan provincial chapter will officially be launched in Bacolod City on April 9, Araw ng Kagitingan (Day Of Valor), former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela said Thursday, March 23.Coalition Chairman retired Justice Antonio Carpio will deliver the keynote address at the launching of the 1 Sambayan Negros Occidental chapter via zoom, he said.The coalition that is out to challenge whoever would be President Rodrigo Duterte’s anointed candidate for the 2022 elections, is not supporting any local candidates, Coscolluela, a convenor of 1Sambayan, said.“This will be the first chapter outside Metro Manila, a lot have already expressed interest in joining,” said Coscolluela, who led theformation of the Negros Occidental chapter on Monda...

A Bacolod resident was sentenced to life imprisonment for the sale of shabu worth P300 to a policeman in Bacolod City.Executive Judge Raymond Joseph Javier of Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 52 found Mary Mae Delos Santos Deloeste, alias Negra, guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.He sentenced her to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000 for the sale of .026 gram of shabu to a police poseur-buyer at her house in Purok Cheriza, Barangay 27, on January 31, 2020.On her arrest, .380 gram of shabu was also recovered from her belt bag, the court was told.The judge sentenced her to an additional 12 years and 8 months as minimum to 17 years and 8 months as maximum imprisonment for illegal poss...