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Local government units (LGUs) and national government agencies (NGAs) in Western Visayas (Region 6) are urged to develop and submit public service continuity plans (PSCP) to avoid disruption in the performance of their functions amid crisis and disasters. Bago City in Negros Occidental is the only LGU in Region 6 that has submitted a PSCP to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-6. “It is very important to develop a PSCP so that our services to the public will not be disrupted. Even in disaster, we will have continuous services to our constituents,” OCD-6 Regional Director Raul Fernandez said. Fernandez was a co-presiding officer in the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council-6, Regional Peace and Order Council-6, and Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Ma...

The distribution of  cash assistance  at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City on Thursday morning.* Bago Citybridge photo A total of P5.35 million in cash assistance was distributed to 535 farmer-beneficiaries in the Fourth District of Negros Occidental at rites held at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City on Thursday morning, July 18.The amount is part of the P50 million Presidential Assistance for Farmers, Fisherfolk and Families (PAFFF) fund intended for 5,000 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental, a press release from Bago City said.Each of the recipients, who were affected by the El Niño phenomenon, received P10,000 in cash assistance from the national government, and food packs from the Negr...

The recovered items from the safehouse, according to the Army.*79th IB photo The 79th Infantry Battalion discovered a safehouse and recovered “war materials” believed to be owned by  remnants of the dismantled  Northern Negros Front of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the hinterlands of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental,  on Tuesday, July 16, a Philippine Army report said  Wednesday. The NPA, on the other hand, claimed the Army’s alleged discovery of a rebel camp was a “big joke”, what actually happened were military raids on homes of farmworkers suspected of having ties or sympathetic to the revolutionary movement.The 79IB said that their continuous military operations resulted to the discovery of the safehouse.It was the result of a tip from vigilant re...

The Manokan Country tenants on Wednesday inspected the temporary site they are transferring to at the SM City parking lot.*Bacolod PIO photoThe Manokan Country in Bacolod City is back in business again. Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez granted its reopening on Wednesday, July 17, until August 19 after its 24 tenants assured him that they will transfer to their temporary site at the SM City parking lot across the street.The mayor had ordered the closure of the Manokan Country on Tuesday after the tenants failed to transfer to the temporary site despite prior commitments and extended deadlines.The tenants, in a meeting with the mayor on Wednesday morning, submitted a written confirmation of their intent to transfer to the temporary site. The Manokan C...

NEPC president and chief executive officer Roel Castro* The Negros Electric and Power Corp. will grant amnesty to more than 6,000 persons in Central Negros with illegal electricity   connections, NEPC president and chief executive officer Roel Castro said on Thursday, July 18. Castro said when NEPC takes over the distribution services of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) it will set a one month amnesty period where all those with illegal power connections can come forward and avail of legal connections. There will be no backbilling and penalties for those who come forward, said Castro at a NEPC Power 101 and Rate Setting seminar for the media in Bacolod City. “The drive is to make them legal and regular,” he said. However, i...

United Negros Alliance members may be running against each other for mayor in two towns in Negros Occidental,  Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante, UNegA secretary general, said on Wednesday, July 17. Resolving the matter of their partymates possibly running against each other for mayor in Moises Padilla and Binalbagan will be taken up in a UNegA meeting, he said. As a rule the party honors the equity of the incumbent, that’s the most logical way to resolve it, they will see what they can do, Escalante said.Escalante said they have been informed that Moises Padilla Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo will be challenged for the mayorship by Vice Mayor Ian Villaflor in the 2025 mayoral race. “We will see if this can be resolved through dialog”, he said. In Bin...

The P87 million seawall along the shoreline of Barangay Zone 1 in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways.* Concrete seawalls worth P107 million constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are protecting coastal communities in the cities of Cadiz and San Carlos in northern Negros Occidental.The DPWH-Western Visayas reported the completion of the seawall in Cadiz on Wednesday, and  the structure in San Carlos in the first week of July. In Cadiz, the P87 million structure along the shoreline of Barangay Zone 1 spans 835.57 lineal meters of a three-meter high seawall with a four-meter wide reinforced concrete slab and 0.5-meter high mattress serving as wave deflectors.“As a barrier between t...

The  canopy put up at Ferrero Street on Thursday.*Bacolod PIO photo The Bacolod City government installed a canopy at Ferrero Street fronting the temporary Manokan Country site on Thursday, July 18, to give its tenants more dining space for their   customers. The 24 Manokan Country tenants have agreed to transfer to the temporary site built by SM Prime Holdings Inc. across the street from their current location by August 19. SMPHI is constructing a new Manokan Country building, which the tenants will be allowed to return to when it is completed.The city government may be able to wave some penalties and interest on the arrears of Manokan Country tenants who have failed to   pay their rent, Councilor Celia Flor said. The waving penalties and ...

Rep. Francisco “Kiko”  Benitez (4th from left) with Sen. Win Gatchalian, Rep. Rachel Arenas,  Sen. Francis Tolentino,  Rep. Dino Tanjuatco and Sen. Koko Pimentel of the  bicameral conference committee show the final text of the Maritime Zones Bill on Wednesday.* The  Senate and the House bicameral conference committee’s  approval of the proposed Maritime Zones Act on  Wednesday, July 17, “brings us  closer to establishing a law that strengthens our legal rights in the West Philippine Sea”,  Rep. Francisco “Kiko”  Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said. Benitez  is the author of House Bill 7819 or the Maritime Zones Bill and a member of the  Bicameral Conference Committee on Maritime Zones Bill. Benitez s...