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The cable wire being dragged out of a manhole by the truck.*BCPO photoFive persons disguised as linemen conducting maintenance work were apprehended for stealing about P750,000 worth of underground Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) copper cable lines at the Handumanan Access Road in Brgy Masilingan, Bacolod City, 4:16 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, the police reported.Robbery charges will be filed against the five, while the identity of one of three of their companions who were able to escape has been established, PCapt. Andy Ofalia, Police Station 7 chief, said on Sunday.Bacolod Police Station 7 personnel were conducting a mobile patrol when they spotted a group of individuals manning the road, Ofalia said.The suspects were wearing reflective clothing and u...

Forty-one Bacolod City government business permits have been recalled for having been issued despite lack of clearances, City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said Friday, February 16.The 41 business permits were obtained through the online system of the city government, he said.The Bureau of Fire Protection - Bacolod was surprised why some commercial establishments were issued business permits despite their not having been issued fire safety inspection certificates.Ting on Monday asked the city’s Business Permits and Licensing Office head to explain what happened.BPLO head Stella Rayos said this happened because of the glitch in the online system of the Management Information Technology and Computer Services (MITCS) that caused the printing of the business permits de...

Opponents of the People's Initiative for Charter Change San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and Bacolod lawyer Cesar Beloria Jr.*The Commission on Elections’ release of withdrawal forms for persons who wish to take back their signatures in support of the People’s Initiative (PI) to amend the 1987 Constitution recognizes the fact that there are indeed Filipinos who felt deceived, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said on Friday, February 16.“It’s a welcome thing that by issuing a withdrawal of signature form the Comelec recognizes the fact that there are indeed fellow Filipinos who felt deceived in signing something they were not fully informed of and therefore want their signature withdrawn,” he said.However, given the climate of suspicion and mistrust that the PI process has...

Data posted by the Commission on Population and Development IV.*The Commission on Population and Development said of the 8,787 adolescent pregnancies in Western Viyasas in 2022, Negros Occidental ranked No. 1 with 3,305.CPD-Region VI raised the alarm on rising cases of pregnant adolescents aged 19 and below in a post on its Facebook page. It also stressed the importance of advancing Adolescent Health and Development (AHD) in every LGU as part of the localization strategy of the Philippine Population and Development-Plan of Action (PPD-POA) 2023-2028.Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that the total registered live births among adolescent mothers (19 years old and under) in Western Visayas increased in 2022 with 8,787 out of the 89,901 total live births, or...

A couple from Negros Occidental enlists for the national identification during a mass wedding on February 14.*PSA VI photoThe Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is now accepting corrections of entries for national identification in its fixed registration sites in Negros Occidental and Iloilo.PSA focal for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) in Western Visayas, Jared Barile, said the correction covers demographic information like name, date of birth, address, contact number, and marital status but not for the recapture of photos."The updating is limited in our PSA-based registration centers. Other provinces have submitted the requirements to update their systems so they can also accept corrections," he said on Friday, February 16.The Iloilo fixed center will te...

NWTF Team went on learning visits and connected with organizations and communities with the best agriculture-related practices*The Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) was awarded a $500,000 grant from Citi Foundation, through CAF America, for a food security and nutrition project that will be piloted through NWTF’s "Balik Panguma Initiative’’.NWTF, in a press statement, said it has provided support to farmers with loan products that will help them with their financial needs and the Balik Panguma Initiative aims to enable access to stable food supply.It said that the initiative aims to further the growth of agriculture-related industries through responsible entrepreneurship, livelihood opportunities, economic productivity, and community development.Chief Executive Of...

Mayor Raymund Tongson and National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation President Renato Tobias during their recent meeting.*Mayor Raymund Tongson recently met with National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) President Renato Tobias to explore collaboration opportunities between the local government unit and the financing agency for the Socialized Housing Project in Himamaylan City.The NHMFC chief and Himamaylan City mayor discussed the potential partnership to finance the construction of 500 duplex-type housing units located at Brgy. 3-Poblacion.The socialized housing project aims to cater to government employees.Himamaylan City officials and representatives of NHMFC conducted a site inspection of the ongoing construction of the socialized housing project on February 8...

A street-level drug target was arrested and P102,000 worth of suspected shabu was seized in a buy bust operation in Brgy. Rizal, Silay City, Negros Occidental, at 5:05 p.m. Thursday, February 15.Arrested was Rommel Tajan, 37, of Villa Hergon in Brgy. Rizal, the police reported.Recovered from him were 20 heat-sealed sachets of suspected shabu weighing 15 grams, the police added.The suspect is now detained at the Silay City Police Station, while the recovered drugs were brought to the Negros Occidental Provincial Forensic Unit 6 for examination, the police said.*

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) has announced a 95-centavo increase per kilowatt-hour in its electricity rates for February.The electricity rates this month are at P11.7856 per kilowatt-hour, a P0.9506/kWh increase from January’s P10.835/kWh, CENECO said on Friday, February 16.CENECO attributed the price hike to the increase in generation charges from P6.9629/kWh to P7.9258/kWh due to the bilateral contract price.CENECO also said that the increase was also a result of the resumption of feed-in-tariff (FIT)-all of P0.0364/kWh based on the Energy Regulatory Commission Resolution 1 this year.The increase was also made because of the imposition of a Real Property Tax Charge of P0.0124 for the next twelve months or until the full amount has been fully recovered,...

The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday, February 16, reiterated its opposition to a proposed bill pushing for a P100 increase in the daily wages of private employees in the country, warning that it would be a disaster especially for small and micro enterprises.Senate Bill (SB) No. 2534 or “An Act Providing for a P100 Pesos Daily Minimum Wage Increase for Employees and Workers in the Private Sector,” sponsored by Senator Jinggoy Estrada seeks to cover employees in the private sector in the country, whether agricultural or non-agricultural.The Senate approved the bill on second reading on Wednesday.MBCCI Chief Executive Officer Frank Carbon told DIGICAST NEGROS that the proposed bill will not benefit the intended workers and will not solve the problem of ris...