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Bacolod City residents may now use a single hotline to follow up transactions, raise complaints and access services of different City Hall offices without having to look for separate contact numbers, Mayor Greg Gasataya announced Monday, Sept. 7.The city government launched the Bacolod City Government Centralized Hotline at (034) 479-6100, which will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday to Sunday.Gasataya said the centralized system was developed after residents repeatedly encountered difficulties determining which number to call when following up concerns with different city departments.“The challenge for our residents has always been that when they need to follow something up, they have to contact different departments, and every office has a different number,” Gasataya sai...

Two men were arrested while about P442,000 worth of suspected shabu was seized in separate buy-bust operations in Bacolod City on Sunday night, Sept. 6.The Bacolod City Police Office said the operations yielded a combined 65 grams of suspected shabu.The larger seizure was recorded at around 11:24 p.m. in Purok Kagaykay, Brgy. 2, where personnel of the City Drug Enforcement Unit arrested alias “Debs,” 58.Police classified the suspect as a high-value individual and a personality listed by the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council.Authorities recovered 14 sachets containing approximately 60 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated standard drug price of P408,000, along with the buy-bust money.Earlier at around 10:15 p.m., Police Station 8 conducted another operation in Brgy. ...

The presentation of the filmmakers at a press conference led by Bacolod Mayor Greg Gasataya Monday morning* Ronnie Baldonado photoNine filmmakers who will compete in the third Bacolod Film Festival were formally presented during a press conference at the Bacolod City Government Center on Monday, Sept. 7.The festival will run from Nov. 27 to 29 under the theme “Pag-angot: Celebrating Heritage, Shaping the Future,” with this year’s edition focusing on rediscovering and preserving Bacolod’s heritage amid the city’s rapid development.Bacolod Film Festival Director Tanya Lopez said the theme was developed alongside growing national and local efforts on cultural mapping and heritage documentation.“It is high time that we rediscover what Bacolod is and what our heritage is,” Lop...

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Sunday confirmed a leadership change at the Police Regional Office–Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR), effective Monday, September 7.According to a special order issued by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief of Directorial Staff PLt. Gen. Neri Vincent Ignacio, PBGen. Rudecindo Licup Reales has been appointed as the new PRO-NIR director.Reales, 53, a graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy Class of 1996, previously served as the Chief of the PNP Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies  under the Civil Security Group, as well as chief of the Regional Comptroller Division for PRO 3 (Central Luzon).He replaces PBGen. Romano Cardiño, who has been reassigned to head PRO 8 in Eastern Visayas.*

Biocontrol materials produced by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental (PGNO) have yielded positive results against the Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) in treated local sugarcane fields.Field observations and initial laboratory testing confirmed the active presence and efficacy of the province-produced biological controls two months after the creation of the PGNO Task Force Kontra RSSI, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando P. Diaz II  said in a Facebook post Saturday, Sept. 5.Field samples collected from sugarcane farms in Caliban, Murcia, revealed RSSI cadavers infected by Entomopathogenic Fungi, featuring visible fungal spores growing on the dead insects, he said.The field applications began August 14. Three weeks post-application, the beneficial fungi demons...