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The ballots for Negros Occidental have arrived.*The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will conduct the final testing and sealing of the automated counting machines (ACMs) in Negros Occidental on Wednesday, May 7, Provincial Elections Officer Ian Lee Ananoria said on Sunday.Ananoria said all the ACMs and ballots for the May 12 polls have already arrived in Negros Occidental.The segregation of ballots for distribution to the towns and cities of Negros Occidental will be conducted on Monday, he said.No campaigning will be allowed starting Sunday, May 11.Voters who want to find their precincts may visit https://precinctfinder.comelec.gov.ph.*

The police arrested a 35-year-old man and seized suspected shabu worth P510,000 in a buy-bust operation at AHS Pension House in  Brgy. 9, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, 9:45 p.m. Friday  May 2. Arrested was alias “Raffy”, 54, of Sitio Bunga, Brgy. Orong, Kabankalan, the police reported. They recovered 75 grams of suspected shabu, an improvised tooter and plastic scoop with traces of suspected  shabu, the buy-bust money, cash proceeds, a Colt .45 caliber pistol with  ammunition,   digital weighing scale,  pickup truck, and other non-drug evidence from the suspect, the police said. The suspect is detained and  will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the police said.* 

AIDFI Chief Executive Officer Auke Idzenga and MWD General Manager  Winston M. Makilan (3rd and 2nd from left) during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement in the presence of AIDFI project consultant Butch Bacaoco and MWD Admin, Commercial and Finance Manager Renelyn N. Jardin.*  The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. (AIDFI) and the Murcia Water District (MWD) have embarked on a two-year collaborative program to study and properly manage the water district’s non-revenue water (NRW) losses.The program is funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation, in line with its mother company’s commitment to help ensure water sufficiency and safety for future generations, a press release from the Murcia municipal government said.  Under the agreement, AIDFI will assist the MWD i...

Fuel prices are expected to go down on Tuesday, May 6, after two weeks of increases.The Department of Energy expects a per-liter price rollback of P0.25 to P0.70 for gasoline, P0.30 to P0.80 for diesel and P0.50 to P0.70 for kerosene.Unioil Petroleum Philippines expects a per-liter price rollback of P0.50 to P0.80 for diesel and P0.70 to P0.90 for gasoline.*

A farmer who was a member of the New People’s Army surrendered to the police in Purok Langka, Brgy. Bunga, Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental, on Friday, May 2. Alias “Alex”, 42, a farmer and resident of Sitio Macap-ot, Brgy. Nataban, San Carlos City, surrendered to the 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company Patrol Base, the police reported. Alex was a fulltime member of the Northern Negros Front- Komiteng Rehiyon- Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor in 2014 and was allegedly involved in some harassment and extortion activities in San Carlos City and Don Salvador Benedicto, the report added. He also surrendered a 357 homemade revolver without ammunition. He received P2,000, groceries, and a sack of rice from the End Local Communist Armed Confl...

Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia said steps have been taken to prevent vote buying through electronic payment services during the May 12 polls.Garcia, who was in Bacolod City on Thursday, May 1, said the Comelec has agreements with GCash, PayMaya, and others electronic platforms who have committed to police money transactions to prevent vote buying at the polls nearIf one person sends money to more than 20 people in a day amounting to more than P5,000 it will be presumed that it is vote buying, Garcia said.But they have not received complaints of electronic vote buying yet, he said.Garcia also said if a person is caught with sample ballots with indelible ink, or carrying cash amounting to P500,000 it will also be presumed to be intended for vote buying...

City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel transport the body of Tony Pahayay, a suspected New People's Army member, who was killed in an encounter in Barangay Humay-humay, Guihulngan City on Thursday .*62IB photoA suspected member of the New People’s Army (NPA) was killed in an armed clash with government troops in Barangay Humay-humay, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental on Thursday, May 1, prompting dozens of families to flee their homes.Lt. Col. Evelio Ilanga, Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion commander, said the encounter occurred around 12:10 p.m. in Sitio Tubigan and resulted in the death of Tony Pahayay, also known by the aliases "Aldren" and "Redol."A resident of Barangay Bulado, Pahayay was believed to be part of Squad 2, Sentro de Gravidad, under the dis...

Rowena Guanzon, P3PWD Party-List first nominee.* Negrense Rowena Guanzon, P3PWD Party-List first nominee, said she wants rights of persons with disabilities (PWD) embodied in the country’s laws and policies.If her party-list group gains a seat in Congress in the May 12 polls she will push for the passage of a law allocating a 5 percent PWD and senior citizens development fund from the total budget of local governments and national agencies, Guanzon said at a press conference in Bacolod City on Friday, May 2.This would be similar to the Gender and Development Fund, which they in the women’s rights movement were able to obtain after so many years of struggle, said Guanzon, a former Commission on Elections commissioner and mayor of Cadiz City.Right now the PWDs and senior...

The Negros Occidental provincial government will comply with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 10-day ban on local governments’ selling of rice at P20 a kilo, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said on Friday, May 2.If they don’t comply they will be committing an election offense, he said.Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the 10-day Comelec ban on the distribution of all forms of “ayuda (assistance)” includes local government’s sale of rice at P20 kilo.The ban started Friday and will run until May 12, Garcia said.Diaz said the provincial government has been selling cheap rice to indigents, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, single parents and other sectors for two years now through the Bigasan ng Bayan, together with the federation of irrigators as...