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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,&...

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.*