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Some of the festival participants who passed out.*Screen grab from video courtesy of Julia Arjillo About 45 street dancers and spectators in the Pakol Festival in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, passed out at the height of the competition due to extreme heat, an official said Thursday, April 25.Guian Jeif Anqui, a nurse and in charge of Operations and Warning of the Sta. Catalina Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), said that the fainting spells occurred before the festival’s street dancing competition began Wednesday afternoon.“Some of the street dancers had already passed out before 2 p.m. and were treated with oral rehydration salts and given first aid by emergency responders on standby,” he said.The cases were sporadic as the street dancing ...

Jesus Villanueva Hinlo, PDP deputy secretary general for Visayas and Negros Occidental Council president.* The possibility of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino’s supporting the reelection bid of Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson remains, Jesus Villanueva Hinlo, PDP deputy secretary general for Visayas and Negros Occidental Council president, said on Thursday, April 25.He said former Victorias mayor Francis Frederick “Wantan” Palanca has not accepted their offer to run as the PDP gubernatorial bet in 2025 yet.“Wantan has not even accepted it yet because it’s a big decision for him…by the end of the day it might turn out that we may ally ourselves with Bong Lacson”, Hinlo said, stressing that they are still in the consultation stage.Technically they still do not ...

Capt. Greeky Cayao handing the reward money to Lt. Col. Sherlock Gabana*BCPO photo The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) gave a cash reward on Wednesday, April 24, to the police personnel who apprehended an American citizen who was caught in the act vandalizing and spray painting the walls at Burgos Street, in Bacolod City. BCPO Task Force Vandalism Team Leader Capt. Greeky Cayao handed a P5,000 reward to Lt. Col. Sherlock Gabana for the arrest of Jean Clifford Rabinowitz on April 19. Rabonowitz is a resident of California, USA, and is temporarily residing at Rosario Heights in Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod. The arrest was pursuant to the strict implementation of the Anti-Vandalism Ordinance and the intensified measures against vandalism by the BCPO Anti-Vandalism ...

Two alleged members of the New  People’s Army were captured and firearms were seized in   Brgy. Pinowayan, Don Salvador Benedicto in Negros Occidental on Thursday, April 25, the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion reported. The 79IB and the 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company of Philippine National Police seized firearms and captured two alleged remnants of the dismantled NPA Northern Negros Front, the Army reported. Seized were a KG 9 pistol, .45 caliber pistol, and three 12 gauge shotguns, the report said. Meanwhile, the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command in a statement sent to the media denied that two NPA rebels were captured in Don Salvador Benedicto.*

About 400 partner-beneficiaries in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, attend a three-day cash-for-training for the Project Local Adaptation to Water Access and Breaking Insufficiency through Nutritious Harvest for the Impoverished.* The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated P93.906 million in cash aid to hundreds of drought-hit families in three provinces of Western Visayas (Region 6), including Iloilo, Antique and Negros Occidental. The assistance is being implemented under Project Local Adaptation to Water Access (LAWA) and Breaking Insufficiency through Nutritious Harvest for the Impoverished (BINHI) through the cash-for-training and cash-for-work (CFTW) programs. As of Thursday, April 25,  beneficiaries have been identified in 17 ...

Damage to rice and corn crops in Negros Occidental is nearing P200 million and is expected to further increase with the drought brought on by the El Niño phenomenon in the province forecasted to last until May.Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola in a report submitted to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Thursday, April 25, said   the damage has hit P197,153, 844 affecting 5,125 farmers in 25 out of 31 towns and cities of the province. The area covered by the damage is 3,752.94 hectares in 195 barangays. Damage to rice crops hit P192,209,466 and corn - P4,944,377.89. Cauayan’s crop damage remained the highest at P66,139,789, or more than one-third of the total amount provincewide.The report does not include the damage to sugarcane in Negros Occidenta...

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson  (left) at the first Joint National Peace and Order Council  and Regional Peace and Order Council  meeting   presided  by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (2nd from right) in Malacañang on Thursday, April 25.*PCO photo President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged the police to immerse themselves in the community to foster better engagement and improve the trust of the public in law enforcers. Marcos issued the call during the first Joint National Peace and Order Council (NPOC) and Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) meeting  in Malacañang on Thursday, April 25, also attended by  Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson. Lacson heads the Regional Peace and Order Council of  Western Visayas. The President em...

A woman was hacked  to death by her father   after an argument in Purok Kawayanan, Brgy. Rafaela Barrera, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, on Wednesday,   April 24. Roselyn Sulan, 27, was allegedly hacked to death by her  father, Richard, 52, who is a fisherman and resident of  Purok Kawayanan, the police reported on Thursday. The police investigation revealed that a heated argument ensued between the father and  daughter. The daughter who was armed with a bolo allegedly threatened her father prompting him to grab it from her and hack her  multiple times, the  police said.  The victim was rushed by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office personnel to the  Alfredo E. Marañon Sr. Memorial ...

A 12-year-old boy drowned in the  sea fronting  the Reclamation Area in Brgy. 1 Poblacion, Pontevedra, Negros Occidental,  on Wednesday, April 24. The boy, whose name was withheld by the police, went for a swim with his minor friends and was carried away by the strong current.His friends saw him struggling but failed to rescue him because of the strong current, the police reported.The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of Pontevedra conducted a search and retrieval operation that resulted in the recovery of his body, the police said.* 

A vandalized wall in Bacolod City* photo courtesy of Caesar Distrito  Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Wednesday, April 24, created a taskforce to combat the rising cases of vandalism in Bacolod City.The taskforce, created by virtue of Executive Order No. 25, Series of 2024, is tasked to enforce Bacolod’s Anti-Vandalism Ordinance of 2011 that imposes penalties on violators. The ordinance defines vandalism as the willful acts that damage or deface the property belonging to another person or to the public. This includes writing, drawing, printing, marking or inscribing on any public or private property any word, slogan, caricature, drawing mark or symbol. Posting or displaying on public or private property any advertisement, bill or notice, without consen...