Top Stories

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian in Bacolod City Tuesday, Sept. 22.*CPG photoThe Department of Social Welfare and Development’s ongoing distribution of Emergency Cash Transfers (ECT) to small sugarcane farmers and workers whose crops have been destroyed by red-striped soft scale insects in Negros Island will hit P1.9 billion before the end of this year, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Tuesday, Sept. 22.The distribution will cover about 190,000 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental and Oriental who will receive a little over P10,000 each, said Gatchalian, who joined the 2026 Bayani Ka! Cum Tatak KALAHI-CIDSS LGU Awards and Performance-Based Grant for Sustainability at the SM Sky Hall in Bacolod City.They will make sure the distribution is completed as soon as possible, he said....

ngr. Joe-Mel S. Zaporteza, NEPC Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, explains the power rates.*CPG photoThere will be a minimal decrease in Negros Electric Power Corp. (NEPC) electricity rates for September, despite a secondary price cap (SPC) ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission in the Visayas and Mindanao spot market.Negros Electric Power Corp. rates will be P14.2487 per kilowatt-hour in September, 3 centavos lower than last month, Engr. Joe-Mel S. Zaporteza, NEPC Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 22.Last month’s rate was P14.2787 per kWh.NEPC is just releasing its consumers' bills for August 16 to Sept. 16 because it waited for the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines'...

Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer (Neg. Occ., 4th District) at the joint briefing.* Albee Benitez FB page photoDeputy House Speaker and Bacolod Representative Alfredo Abelard "Albee" Benitez urged government energy  officials to identify priority areas for new power plants and retroactively implement electricity price caps  to cushion consumers from recurring outages across the Visayas region.These were stressed during a joint briefing on Monday, Sept. 21, conducted by the House Committees on Energy, Visayas Development, and Legislative Franchises, Benitez said in a Facebook post on Tuesday..The meeting was called to seek explanations from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its attached agencies regarding chronic power outages in the Visayas.Beni...

From left Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian, GCash Integrated Ecosystem Partnerships Head and Vice President Chai Alano and Rep. Emilio "Dino" Yulo (Neg. Occ., 5th District) during the launch of the first-ever nationwide digital payout for beneficiaries of the UPLIFT Assistance Program.*BCCO photoThe Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), led by Secretary Rex Gatchalian, officially launched  the first-ever nationwide digital payout for beneficiaries of the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) program at the Bacolod City Government Center on Tuesday, Sept. 22,  making Bacolod City the pilot site for the program’s shift from manual disbursement to direc...

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), called on local government units (LGUs), communities, partners, and the public to strengthen community participation, shared accountability, and sustained local action in building resilient communities.The call took center stage during the 2026 National Bayani Ka! cum Tatak KALAHI-CIDSS LGU Awards and the launching of the Performance-Based Grant for Sustainability (PBGS) at the SM Sky Hall in Bacolod City on Tuesday, September 22.With the theme "Recognizing Excellence in Community-Driven Development (CDD): Sustaining Partnerships and Strengthening Local Governance by Building Resilient Communities," the event ga...