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Punta Bulata in Cauayan town is one of the many tourist attractions in Negros Occcidetal.* Levi Trio photo Western Visayas generated P70 billion from its 5.36 million tourist arrivals in 2023, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported on Tuesday, July 9.Of the total arrivals, only 550,000 were foreign and overseas visitors while the rest were domestic travelers who helped keep the industry in the region afloat.“This is a 22.9 percent increase in the growth of tourist arrivals from that of 2022 with only 4.36 million,” DOT Assistant Regional Director for Western Visayas Phoebe Zelie Areño said during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum on Tuesday.She said access to destinations improved for domestic travelers with promotions extended by airline companies and road conne...

Justice Undersecretaries Raul Vasquez  and Jesse Andres (2nd and 3rd from left), and Malacañang Press Briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez.*RTVM Screengrab The extradition of former congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. is now in the “last stages” of the process, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday, July 10, two weeks since it announced the decision of Timor-Leste to grant the Philippines’ extradition request. “We are glad to confirm that we are already in the last stages of the extradition process,” Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres said in a Palace press briefing. Andres said the camp of Teves has 30 days to file its appeal on the decision of Timor-Leste. “We are very confident and we are on top of the situation,” he said. Teves is facing 10 co...

Joginder Geong following his arrest*BCPO photoThe Indian national alleged to be  a leader  of an organized crime syndicate who was arrested in Bacolod City was brought to Manila   by  Bureau of  Immigration operatives,  the police said Tuesday, July 9.Joginder Geong, alias Joginder Geyong and Kant Gupta, 40, was arrested at Santa Lucia Gardens Subdivision, Barangay Taculing, Bacolod City, Monday.Geong has been hiding in Bacolod using the fake name Kant Gupta and a fraudulent Nepalese passport, the police said.The Embassy of India in Manila had requested for his arrest and deportation.He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for violating arms laws in India, the police said.He was  described to be notorious criminal with a h...

The stolen cable wires and the four arrested suspects.* Four individuals were caught stealing cable wires in front of an abandoned building in Brgy. 32, Bacolod City, 2:45 a.m. Monday, July 8, the police reported Wednesday. Arrested were Rodel Sodando, 57, and Romeo Martin, Jr., 49, from Valladolid, Negros Occidental, Milo Gersalino, 52, from Bacolod, and Alberto Dela Paz, Jr., 50, from La Carlota City. The police and a telecommunications company security guard arrested the suspects and recovered copper cable wires. Also seized from them were a closed van loaded with copper cable wires and a bolt cutter, and a sedan car. The arrested individuals are now detained at Bacolod City Police Station 1.* 

Fall armyworms infesting a sugarcane plant in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, last week.*The National Crop Protection Center (NCPC) of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) will conduct various studies on the sound management of fall armyworms in sugarcane currently monitored in different localities in Negros Occidental.Some 80 hectares of sugarcane plantation and 843 hectares of cornfield in 15 local government units (LGUs) have been infested by armyworms as of July 5, based on the latest report of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) on Tuesday.In its report, the NCPC team, led by Director Barbara Caoili, said they conducted a field visit and assessment from July 3 to 4 to investigate the infestation in sugarcane in the province, in coordination w...

An alleged drug personality was shot dead by unidentified suspects in Purok 6, Brgy. Bantayan, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, 2:20 a.m.  Wednesday, July 10. Killed was Cedric Jaro, alias “Odong”, 21, of Brgy. Locotan, Kabankalan, the police said. Residents of the place heard several gunshots and later found the victim on the road. He sustained gunshot wounds on his head and leg. The police said the victim was an alleged drug personality and the possible motive for the killing could be a personal grudge. An investigation is still ongoing.*

Roel Castro explaining the More Power operations*ILOILO CITY – Negros Electric and Power Corp. president Roel Castro vowed to bring in the technology they provided in Iloilo to Central Negros to improve power services in the area when NEPC begins operations.Castro, who spoke at the U.S. Embassy’s 16th Media Seminar here on Monday, July 8, said there are similarities in the power needs of Iloilo and Negros, so they will  bring similar services but the approach will be different to ensure that the consumers will benefit from it.“The approach might be different but the common thing is that it will be for the benefit of the consumers”, Castro said.Castro presented to the media the best practices of More Electric Power Corp. (More Power) that operates in Iloilo City and led...

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) awarded nine police chiefs for their performance in the second quarter of the year during a ceremony at Camp Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr. in Bacolod City on Monday, July 8.Col. Rainerio De Chavez, Negros Occidental police provincial director, awarded them for their performance from April 1 to June 30.Lt. Col. John Mocyat of Sagay City, Maj. Joseph Partidas of Ilog, Maj. Ellendie Rebusquillo of Isabela, and Maj. Rhojn Darell Nigos of La Castellana were awarded for the most number of police operations versus wanted persons.Silay City police chief Lt. Col. Mark Anthony Darroca and his deputy Maj. Sara Villanueva, and E.B. Magalona chief Maj. Kenneth Gratones were also awarded for the most number of anti-illegal gambling operati...

The sustained prevention and control campaign has brought down leptospirosis cases in Bacolod  by 85.4 percent in the first seven months of 2024. Data from the City Health Office (CHO) on Wednesday, July 10 showed that from January 1 to June 29 this year, only seven cases, including two deaths, were reported compared to 48 cases, with five deaths, during the same period last year. "There are no barangays with clustering of cases," Dr. Grace Tan, head of the CHO Environment Sanitation Division, said in the report. Barangays Pahanocoy, Felisa, Alijis, Punta Taytay, Vista Alegre, Mansilingan, and Mandalagan have one case each. The two mortalities, two males in their 30's, were reported in Pahanocoy and Punta Taytay. Tan said the most common re...