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The  Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP), which marks its first year this month, has partnered with all seven hospitals in the city to provide in-patient hospital services, especially to indigent patients. These medical facilities are the Department of Health-retained Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, and private health care institutions Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center, Inc.), Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctor's Hospital, and Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center. Since May 1 last year, about 3,022 patients have availed of BacCHP hospital admission services while 43,051 families from the city’s 61 barangays have b...

Residents of Purok Hervias 2, Barangay Villamonte in Bacolod City avail of free water through the city government’s “Patubig Sa Barangay” program.*  The Bacolod City government, together with its various partners, has delivered some 526,000 liters of water to El Niño hit households in the past three weeks.Data on Thursday showed that from April 9 to May 1, the water delivered benefited 26,629 households in various villages in the city. Among those who availed of water rationing were residents of barangays 18, 27, 30 and 33 as well as Villamonte, Felisa, Taculing, Cabug, Mansilingan, Handumanan, Alijis and Mandalagan. Through the “Patubig Sa Barangay” program, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez ordered to supply water in areas experiencing drought due to El N...

Himamaylan City Mayor Raymund Tongson received the Best Oral Presenter award at the  2nd International Conference for Higher Education Research of the Philippine Association of Institutions for Research Inc. on Tuesday, April 30. Tongson presented his study  - “Economic and Social Benefits and Challenges in the Implementation of Infrastructure Projects in a Component City in Negros Occidental.” Tongson said that he would not have  been  able to present the findings of his thesis paper without the city government and people of Himamaylan backing the endeavor.He presented his paper online via a Zoom conference, which was attended by various researchers in the group.“I pursued this thesis because I wanted to promote data-driven programs and projects in the ...

A 52-year-old man was shot dead during a  drinking session at Sitio Alo, Brgy. Enclaro, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental,  Wednesday night,  May 1. Killed was  Wilfredo Miranda, 52. The police said the   suspect is  Jetro Genovia, 48,  who is at-large. The police said  the shooting occurred   at the suspect’s house. The  victim and the suspect were having  a drinking session  when  a heated argument ensued, the police  reported. This prompted the suspect to shoot the victim, hitting his chest that caused his sudden death, the police added. The suspect fled  after the incident.* 

A couple and a junior high school student were found dead in Calatrava and Sagay City, Negros Occidental during Labor Day, May 1, the police reported. Elpidio Guarin, 52, and his live-in partner Evangilyn Denapol, 65, both farmers, succumbed to gunshot wounds inside their residence in Sitio Manaysay, Brgy. Cambayobo, Calatrava, at about noon on Wednesday. A neighbor wondered why the victims were unusually silent and were not seen doing their daily routine since Tuesday. He asked the barangay officials and tanod to check on the couple and they found them lying in a pool of blood. They had gunshot wounds on their heads. They were then brought to the Calatrava Municipal Hospital but were declared dead on arrival. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man, ident...

The police arrested a 63-year-old man and seized suspected shabu worth P149,600 in a buy-bust operation at Crossing Dungon, Brgy. Taliban, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, on Wednesday, May 1. The police withheld the name of the suspect who is a resident of Brgy. Sto. Rosario in Binalbagan. The suspect is now detained at the Himamaylan Police Station while the seized drug evidence was brought to the Provincial Forensics Unit-6 for examination.* 

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez*Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has extended the cancellation of face-to-face (F2F) classes from   preschool to senior high in all public and private schools in Bacolod City  to Thursday and Friday, May 2 and 3, because of the forecasted excessive heat. Asynchronous classes/distance learning will instead be conducted because the   Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration forecasted heat index for Thursday and Friday is 43 degrees Celsius, the mayor’s spokesman Caesar Distrito said. For private schools with air-conditioned classrooms, and those in the tertiary level, Benitez has left it to the discretion of the school administrators whether to suspend F2F classes, Distrito added. The...

Engr. Ray Bustamante at a press conference on Wednesday.*The former general manager of the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) said on Wednesday, May 1, that he was unjustly dismissed by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and has filed a motion for reconsideration for reinstatement.Engr. Ray Bustamante, at a press conference in Bacolod City, said he is innocent of the charges filed against him and has also lodged a case against the NEA for illegal suspension and termination before the Court of Appeals.Bustamante said because he was terminated he will not receive even five centavos for his dedicated and honest service to the NOCECO member-consumers for 25 years.He also said prior his termination in April he had not received a salary for six month...

The power consumers conference on Wednesday.* Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he believes the bill granting the Negros Electric and Power Corporation (NEPC) a legislative franchise to take over the power distribution services of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) will be approved soon.“I believe it will have majority support in the Senate. Hopefully we will approve it before the sine die break”, Zubiri told DIGICAST NEGROS on Wednesday, May 1.Congress goes on its break on May 24.Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday, April 30, sponsored House Bill No. 9805 to grant the NEPC franchise during the Senate plenary session on Monday and urged her colleagues to pass the measure.NEPC is a partnership formed through a joint venture agreement (JVA) between Primelectri...

NOCCI president Edward C. Du*The president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI) has tendered his irrevocable resignation as member of the Regional Development Council - 7 effective Thursday, May 2.NOCCI president Edward C. Du said he resigned because of the sudden and unilateral removal of the Tamlang Valley Sustainable Agriculture for Growth and Resiliency (TVSAGR) Project from the top three programs, activities and projects (PAP) that were presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his meeting with RDC chairpersons  in Malacañang on April 30.Du submitted his resignation to Bohol Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado, RDC 7 chairperson.As the private sector representative who initiated, advocated and lobbied for the TVSAGR Project approv...