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The blessing of the P180 million Manapla Port Stevedoring and Arastre (MPSA) in Barangay Punta Salong, Manapla, was held on Saturday, Feb. 2.The port operations will begin soon, Dave Sarrosa, the spokesperson of MPSA, said.The Lite Ferry roro vessels will soon sail from Manapla, Negros Occidental, to Ajuy and Concepcion, Iloilo.Travel time from Manapla to Ajuy will be 45 minutes and 55 minutes to Concepcion.Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante expects this to be a big boost the town's economy and tourism in the province.It could bring in at least P4 million in revenues to Manapla annually , Escalante said. It would mean sugarcane from northern Iloilo being milled in Negros, he said.Its benefits are divided into three areas such as the cargo/ logistics area - MPSA Port; Tourism area ...

Patrick Miguel Montilla*Patrick Miguel Montilla has withdrawn his bid to run for board member of the 5th District of Negros Occidental.He withdrew his candidacy by filing a sworn statement of cancellation/withdrawal before the Negros Occidental Commission on Elections office on Wednesday, January 29, Montilla said in a press statement Sunday.Montilla said he withdrew his candidacy “after careful thought”, citing personal reasons.He had wanted to run for board member because of lack of unified legislation in the province on road safety, public health, and on protecting stakeholders in the sugar industry, Montilla said.Montilla said he has been exploring other opportunities that might provide faster and more efficient ways of realizing his goals without the need for h...

The Kanlaon crater at 4:07 a.m. Sunday as seen through Phivolcs camera lenses, but not visible to the naked eye.*The orange radiance above the crater of Kanlaon Volcano visible in photos taken at 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, was a superheated plume and not crater glow, a Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology official said.“It’s a superheated plume, its heated volcanic gas being emitted along with ash,” Ma. Antonia V. Bornas, Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief, told DIGICAST NEGROS.The orange light or incandescence can only be seen through sensitive camera lenses and not through the naked eye, she said.Nature photographer John Kimwell Laluma, who posted the volcano photos on his Facebook page that went viral on Sunday, said his intent was...

Kanlaon Volcano has had 137 ash emissions or minor eruptions since its Dec. 9 eruption that led to the raising of its alert level to three, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported on Friday, Jan. 31.Mariton Bornas, Phivolcs’ Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief, said potential precursors to explosive eruptions at Kanlaon similar to the ones that occurred on Dec.9 and June 3, 2024, are a drop in sulfur dioxide emissions and ground deformation.She said while the sulfur dioxide emission at Kanlaon dropped to 1,691 tons on Tuesday, Jan 28, it went up to 4,068 on Wednesday.The drop in sulfur dioxide emissions is not the only indicator of an impending eruption, there are other indicators, Bornas said.*

Dr. Girlie Pinongan, Negros Occidental provincial health officer*Health officials are investigating the death of a 9-month-old baby boy from an evacuation center in La Castellana to prevent similar cases from occurring.The 9-month-old baby, who was severely dehydrated died of septic shock caused by community acquired pneumonia at the Ignacio L. Arroyo Memorial District Hospital on Jan. 25, Dr. Girlie Pingonan, and Negros Occidental Provincial Health Officer, said.The parents of the child brought him to a private doctor for consultation prior to his death.Pinongan said parents of children who are ill at the evacuation centers should seek immediate medical help from heath personnel assigned there.In their initial assessment of the situation in the evacuation centers, some...

Dengue cases in Negros Occidental are expected to increase in 2025, Dr. Girlie Pinongan, Provincial Health Officer, said on Friday, Jan 31.Pinongan said the dengue trend is every three years the number of cases increase and 2025 is the third year.There has been a 296 percent increase in dengue cases in Negros Occidental in the first three weeks of January compared to the same period last year, she said.The two suspected dengue deaths involved adults.The PHO is focusing its campaign on proper sanitation to remove the breeding places of mosquitoes. Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito.Bago, which has the highest number of dengue cases, has already launched a clean and green program, Pinongan said.Pinongan said one should immediately see a doctor i...

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson warned the public against increasing typhoid fever cases in Negros Occidental on Friday, Jan. 31.Typhoid fever cases increased by 100 percent with 80 cases from Jan. 1 to 18 this year compared to 40 cases in the same period in 2024, the governor said.Typhoid fever is an infectious disease caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria, Lacson’s health advisory said.It spreads through contaminated food and water or through close contact with someone who is infected, the advisory added.Signs and symptoms of typhoid fever are sustained high fever, headaches, weakness, loss of appetite, either diarrhea or constipation, and abdominal discomfort.Antibiotics, may be given to adults as prescribed by a physician, the advisory said.To prevent typhoid fever one...