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Security forces for the 2024 Panaad Sa Negros Festival were deployed on Saturday.*Richard Malihan photoThe Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office sent off 1,102 policemen and force multipliers to secure the Panaad sa Negros Festival at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City that kicks off Monday, April 15, and ends on April 21.A gun ban will also be enforced in the entire Negros Occidental from 12:01 a.m. of April 15 to 11:59 p.m. of April 21, which means all permits to carry firearms outside of residence will be suspended.The send-off ceremony was held at the NOCPPO Grandstand at Camp Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr. in Brgy. Estefania, Bacolod City, on Saturday, April 13.The sendoff was attended by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Negros Occidental police director Col. Rainer...

The police arrested two individuals and seized guns and suspected shabu worth P612,000 in  Brgy. Gahit, E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental, 4:45 a.m.  Saturday, April 13. The suspects, whose names were withheld by the police, were arrested at Menesca Village. Recovered  were 18 sachets of suspected shabu weighing 90 grams, the police said. The police also seized a .45  caliber pistol, .38 caliber  revolver, and 11 live ammunition for each of the guns, a phone, and other non-drug items. The operation was conducted by virtue of a search warrant for violation of Republic Acts 10591 or the Guns and Ammunition Regulation Act and  9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 issued by Judge Leonardo Facultad of the Regional Tria...

Col. Rainero De Chavez, acting provincial police director, turns over the command to incoming commander Lt. Col. Basman Macarangal Jr. (left).* The new  1st Negros Occidental Police Mobile Force Company  commander assumed his post at  rites  held  at the NOCPMFC Headquarters in Baragay Eustaquio Lopez,  Silay City, Negros Occidental, on Saturday,  April 13. Lt. Col. Basman Macarangal Jr. assumed as the new force commander of the 1st NOCPMFC of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office replacing Lt. Col. Edison Garcia. Garcia, in his speech, thanked the local government unit heads in Northern Negros covered by the 1st NOCPMFC for their support.  Col. Rainero De Chavez, acting provincial police director,   ...

The San Isidro Labrador Parish Church  in Binalbagan reopens.* photo via San Isidro Labrador Parish The San Isidro Labrador Parish Church  in Binalbagan  that was closed after the destruction of  six of its religious images, which  caused its desecration, was  reopened on Friday, April 12. A prayer of consecration and reparation and penitential procession was held  followed by the reopening mass. Rolly Semira, 39, drove his tricycle into the San Isidro Labrador Church and ran to the altar where he toppled and broke six religious statues in the middle of a mass on April 3.  The images of St. Joseph, San Isidro Labrador - the parish patron, Immaculate Conception, two angels and the Crucifix were damaged and destroyed...

Ceneco personnel working to restore power Thursday night* Acting Mayor Israel Salanga on Friday, April 12, called on the Central Negros Electric Cooperative to take proactive measures to prevent lengthy brownouts in Bacolod City. A power outage hit Bacolod City 9:30 p.m. Thursday night and lasted for close to five hours in some areas. Salanga said he spoke to CENECO acting general manager Arnel Lapore on Friday to ask for an explanation on what caused the blackout and what can be done to prevent such lengthy occurrences. Lapore informed him that measures will be taken to try to prevent such lengthy brownouts, Salanga said. Ceneco will conduct a technical survey of its power lines and substations, Lapore said. The CENECO manager said the...

The National Bureau of Investigation has identified the person whose frozen body parts were left in front of its office in Bacolod City in March. A fingerprint analysis conducted by the NBI Dactyloscopy Division matched with that of Baltazar Lamata of Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod City, NBI Bacolod Chief Renoir Baldovino said on Friday, April 12. A sack containing a frozen left arm, left leg, and two ears of Lamata were left in front of the NBI Bacolod office on March 1, he said. Lamata had previously applied for an NBI clearance so they had a record of his fingerprint, Baldovino said.“According to intelligence reports that we gathered it appears that Lamata was involved with illegal drugs…we do not know if he was a drug user or pusher,” he said.They are lo...

The Churchpeople and Workers in Solidarity support the  workers’ heat safety demands in the light of the recent high heat index experienced in the country, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, CSW chairperson, said Friday, April 12. Amidst record-high temperatures brought about by the effect of climate change, CWS urges employers and the Department  of Labor and Employment to take decisive action to safeguard workers’ health and safety, he said. Hot temperatures and low compliance with occupational safety and health standards make workers more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses such as heat strokes, Alminaza said. The bishop said CWS supports the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Development’s (IOSHD) “10 heat safety demands”: *Heat breaks that ar...

The sixth most wanted person in the Western Visayas who is facing raps for four counts of alleged rape was arrested in Brgy. Mandalagan, Bacolod City, on  Wednesday,  April 10. Arrested was alias “June”, 35,  a resident of Brgy. Banago, Bacolod City, the Police Regional Office-6 reported.  He was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest for four counts of rape issued by Judge Karen Joy Tan Gaston of  Regional Trial Court Branch 34 in Bacolod City. No bail was  recommended. The suspect is now detained at  the Bacolod City Police Station 3.* 

The items seized in the Brgy. Handumanan buy bust operation.*BCPO photo A Bacolodnon was arrested in a buy bust operation with suspected shabu worth P850,000 and a gun in  Purok Sto. Niño, Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City, 1:27 a.m. Friday, April 12, the police reported. Allen Jay Tumayan, 30, of Brgy. Handumanan, was arrested by the City Drug Enforcement Unit of the Bacolod City Police Office. The police  tagged him as a high-value drug individual. Seized from him were four  heat-sealed sachets and two knot-tied plastic bags containing suspected shabu weighing 125 grams, the police said. Also seized from him was  a .45 caliber  pistol with one live ammunition.* 

Zoe Clarisse Limson of Cauayan -  muse of the media in the municipal category  and  Kyla Rose Romarate of Victorias City – muse of the media in the city category (l-r).* Ronnie Baldonado photo The Cauayan and Victorias City bets were hailed as the muses of the media during the Lin-ay sang Negros press presentation and talent competition at the Ayala Malls Capitol Central in Bacolod City on Friday, April 12. Zoe Clarisse Limson of Cauayan was named muse of the media in the municipal category while Kyla Rose Romarate of Victorias City in the city category, besting 27 other candidates in one of the most anticipated events of the Panaad sang Negros Festival. The candidates were divided into the city and municipality categories and representatives from ...