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Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, 11th from left, with the Victorias City officials after delivering his state of the city address Monday night.*Ronnie Baldonado photo  Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel "Javi" Benitez outlined the gains of his administration and thanked his constituents for their support in his state of the city address delivered at the Victorias Public Plaza Monday night, May 5.“We have strengthened governance, prepared citizens for emergencies, provided them with shelter and a peaceful community, supported their education, as well as their health, and boosted the local economy,” he said of his term as mayor of Victorias.Benitez, who is running for representative of the Third District of Negros Occidental, assured his constituents hat he is not abandoning them....

A man was arrested three days after he stabbed his wife to death in an alleged fit of jealousy in Brgy. Inapoy Lumbia, Mabinay, Negros Oriental, on Friday, May 2.Eduardo Maguad Jr., 30, was arrested Monday, May 5, after he stabbed his wife, Alice Balauro Maguad, 32.Investigation revealed that the victim was watching television in her mother’s house when she was picked up by her husband to go home.Minutes after, their neighbors shouted for help after the suspect stabbed Alice.The victim was brought to a hospital in Dumaguete while the suspect fled but was later arrested by the police.Jealousy allegedly triggered the heated argument, the police said.*

A 47-year-old male from Barangay Banago is the second probable leptospirosis fatality in Bacolod City this year, the City Health Office (CHO) reported on Monday, May 5.The victim was admitted at a hospital because of the upward rolling of his eyeballs and a seizure on April 18 and died on April 20, CHO Sanitation Division Head Dr. Grace Tan said.The Banago resident had been suffering from body malaise for four days but did not consult a doctor.The day before he was brought to the hospital he suffered from jaundice and had a fever.Tan reminded the public to avoid wading and swimming in flood waters, and to immediately consult a doctor if they manifest any leptospirosis symptoms.She also reminded the public to maintain a clean environment to prevent the infestation of ...

Maj. Gen. Michael G. Samson pins a medal on one of the soldiers.*A total of 120 soldiers in Negros Island were recognized for their “bravery and excellence” in combat during an awarding ceremony at the 47th Infantry (Katapatan) Battalion headquarters in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, on Saturday, May 3.Maj. Gen. Michael G. Samson, 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division commander, pinned medals on 14 officers and 106 enlisted personnel of the 47IB who distinguished themselves in recent successful engagements with remnants of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island, Col. Erwin Rommel Lamzon, 3ID spokesperson, said Monday, May 5.The ceremony honored troops involved in an encounter that took place in Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, on April 27.The clash involved ...

The price of premium or imported rice has dropped by P2 to P5 per kilo in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, a Department of Agriculture (DA) official said Monday, May 5.Only the price of premium rice or imported rice has dropped, there has been no change to the price of local rice, DA Negros Island Regional Director Jose Albert Barrogo said.The average price of premium rice is now at P50 to 55 a kilo, and the lowest monitored was at P48, Barrogo said.The average price of local rice is P40 to 44 per kilo, and the lowest is P30 a kilo, he added.Benjie Tupas, who sells rice at the Burgos Public Market in Bacolod City, said a kilo of imported rice used to cost up to P60 a kilo but since mid-April it dropped to P55 to P56 per kilo.Tupas said they are getting cheaper rice f...

Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office cops seized P10.9 million worth of suspected shabu in their weeklong provincewide Simultaneous Anti-Criminality Law Enforcement Operation (SACLEO) from April 28 to Sunday, May 4.They seized 1,607.31 grams of suspected shabu and arrested 23 persons last week, the NOPPO reported.They also conducted 21 anti-illegal gambling operations and arrested 42 persons with P4,453 in bet money.The NOPPO campaign against loose firearms resulted in 30 operations, 30 firearms confiscated and surrendered and six persons arrested.The police also arrested 50 persons in their operations against wanted persons, the NOPPO added.*

A policeman removing one of the buried bodies from the sugarcane field.*Two Bacolod City residents were found buried in shallow graves in a sugarcane field in Hacienda San Roque, Barangay Cubay, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.They were identified by their live-in partners as Glenn Arnaiz, 29, alias “Follow up”, and Ernesto Jawod Jr., alias “Atong”, 32, both from Purok Pilit Dos, Brgy 6, Bacolod City, Lt. Col. Lymel John Pasquin, La Carlota police chief, said.Jawod with a tattoo on his right shoulder was found naked with masking tape on his face and Arnaiz was wrapped in a tarpaulin, Pasquin said, adding that their cause of deaths were being determined.They are still investigating the background of the victims, he said.They were fres...

The Bacolod City Fire Station Special Rescue Force helping extract the victims from  the pickup.*BCFS photo Two San Carlos City residents died and one was injured after their pickup was hit by a hauler truck at the Circumferential Road in Hacienda Tibay Lopez, Brgy. Efigenio Lizares, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, on Saturday, May 3. Nilo Epanto, 38, driver of the pickup truck, and his  passenger Ronjun Caballero died,  while their other companion Paul Simon Puertillano was injured. All three were residents of San Carlos City. The  hauler truck was driven by Galy  Antipatian, 50,  of Brgy. Paraiso, Sagay City. Maj. Rhazl Jim Jocson, Talisay deputy police chief, said the hauler truck was headed for Bacolod City while the pickup truck ...

Edsil Jess Adalid and his wife, Alexis Gale, on their wedding day*The bodies of a music teacher and his wife from Negros Oriental who went missing following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit Myanmar on March 28 have been found.Hermosila “Mimi” Adalid, a university teacher in Bais City, Negros Oriental, told DIGICAST NEGROS on Sunday, May 4, that the decomposing bodies of her son Edsil Jess Adalid, 34, and his wife Alexis Gale, 25, were found on a stretcher in a morgue by a friend in Myanmar.“When they were found they were hugging each other as if my son was protecting his wife but their bodies were already deformed…it seems they died on the spot,” she said.Their bodies were about to be included in a mass cremation with others at that morgue when they were found, she said....

Third  District congressional candidate Javier Miguel Benitez holds up the Philippine flag at his miting de avance.* Javi Benitez FB page photoVictorias City Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez vowed to implement his  Asenso+  platform that will bring “tangible and intangible progress”  to  the Third District of Negros  Occidental if elected congressman on May 12. Board Member candidates Rolin Meliton and Andrew Montelibano, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Victorias Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, Abang Lingkod first nominee Manuel Frederick Ko and vice gubernatorial bet Jose Benito Alonso (l-r) at the miting de avance.*Ronnie Baldonado photoBenitez, who was joined by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, vice gubernatorial bet Jose Benito Alonso,&...