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Apr92024 by Mark L. GarciaNo Comments

Go digital to accelerate growth, guv urges CAPGEM members

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson receives a Certificate of Appreciation from CAPGEM Chairperson Lea Javier and Director Jun Caberoy during their 33rd Annual General Assembly.*Richard Malihan photo Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson urged the members of Capitol Government Employees Multipurpose Cooperative (CAPGEM) to navigate the positive effects of digitalization to achieve the cooperative’s objectives during their 33rd General Membership Assembly at the SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City on Tuesday, April 9. Lacson, in his speech, said that the general assembly’s theme “Positioning CAPGEM in a Digital Economy” reflects the cooperatives aim to be more responsive and adaptive to the demands of the times. “The increasing digitalization has brought about changes in ...

Apr92024 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Zubiri, Ejercito elated by Marcos’ NIR promise

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Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito pushed for the passage of the NIR bill in the Senate.* Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday, April 9, said he is totally elated and thanks President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his wholehearted support for the Negros Island Region (NIR). Marcos, who was in Bacolod Monday, said he is signing the bill creating the NIR into law to unify the provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor into one administrative region. “His signature and approval will fix into the country’s history books the outcome of years of hard work and consultation with the people of the islands of Negros, Siquijor and the remaining provinces of Regions 6 and 7,” Zubiri, principal author of the NIR bil...

Apr92024 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Five babies positive for pertussis; Bacolod, NegOcc issue advisory

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Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson (right) and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez have issued a joint public advisory on pertussis.*Richard Malihan photo Five babies in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City have tested positive for pertussis, health officials confirmed on Tuesday, April 9. Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez have issued a joint public advisory on pertussis awareness amid concern over the increasing confirmed and probable cases. In Negros Occidental two babies aged two months old have tested positive for pertussis, while there are 23 other suspected cases, Dr. Girlie Pinongan, Provincial Health Officer, said. In Bacolod City three babies from one to three months old tested positiv...

Apr82024 by Mark L. GarciaNo Comments

Sustainable football grassroots dev’t pledged

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NOFA’s newly-elected officers* The newly-elected president of Negros Occidental Football Association promised to implement sustainable grassroots development initiatives for football coaches in the province during the NOFA elections at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City on Saturday, April 6.Jose Miguel Valmayor of the San Carlos City Football Club was unanimously elected as the new NOFA president, while Rene Dofitas of Bacolod United FC is the new vice president and Augustine Rey Rivas of Kabankalan FC is the general secretary.Valmayor said that he plans to unify the football leagues in the province and will focus on reorganization of the association.He also plans to institute and implement sustainable grassroots development initiatives and licensing programs for t...

Apr82024 by Mark L. GarciaNo Comments

236 students complete Army immersion program

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The participants in the work immersion program.* About 236 senior high school students ended their 10-day work immersion program with the 15th Infantry Battalion in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, on Sunday, April 7.The program was joined by 236 students from various schools in Cauayan and Ilog towns, the 15IB said.Students were given the opportunity to learn from experienced soldiers and gain practical insights into various fields within the Philippine Army, it said.The participants were 76 students from Guiljungan National High School-Main Campus, six from Guiljungan National High School-Abaca Extension, 84 from Tuyom National High School, and 70 from Galicia National High School in Ilog.Lt.Col. Michael Cuarteros, 15IB commander, thanked the four schools for choosing thei...

Apr82024 by Mark L. GarciaNo Comments

S&R opens in Bacolod, creates more jobs

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Officials cut the ribbon at the opening of S&R Bacolod.* Barbara Mijares photoBacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the opening of the 27th branch of membership shopping enterprise S&R in Bacolod City on Monday, April 8, will create more jobs and boost the local economy.S&R will create 212 new jobs in Bacolod, he said.We are happy that Bacolod residents will have more choices on where to shop, and will not have to go to S&R in Iloilo anymore, he said.The entry of S&R shows that Bacolod is on its way to becoming a super city, he also said.Its opening is also one way of bringing back Bacolodnons working elsewhere, Benitez said.“I heard S&R will give its employees from Bacolod the opportunity to return here and work, and some ...

Apr82024 by Mark L. GarciaNo Comments

BFP: Isabela grassfire clearing operations on

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Clearing operations were underway Monday night, April 8, after a grassfire hit the mountainous area of Sitio Ubay in Brgy. 9, Isabela, Negros Occidental, on Sunday.Bureau of Fire Protection-Isabela Chief Administrator, FO1 Lorie Mae Balista, said that as of 5:15 p.m. Monday the grass fire was under control and they were conducting clearing operations.There are still areas where fire is still present but BFP personnel are already in the area for clearing, she said.The grassfire was reported at about 4:50 p.m. on Sunday. The extent of the grassfire has yet to be determined by fire personnel, Balista said.*

Apr82024 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

San Enrique now under state of calamity: mayor

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San Enrique town in Negros Occidental is now under a state of calamity, Mayor Jilson Tubillara said on Monday, April 8.The town’s Sangguniang Bayan in a special session Monday approved the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council recommendation for the declaration of a state of calamity amid the drought damage to crops and fishponds, he said.The declaration will allow the town government to allocate its calamity funds to assist drought affected farmers, he said.The town SP also passed a resolution calling on the Department of Agriculture to conduct cloud seeding operations in Negros Occidental to induce rain.The drought damage to rice, sugarcane and fisheries in San Enrique has hit P9,951,589.70, Tubillara said.The sources of livelihood of about 6,000 San En...

Apr82024 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

President to return to Bacolod when housing inauguration set

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is waiting for Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to set the date for the inauguration of the Asenso Yuhum Residences-Arao in Barangay Vista Alegre, Bacolod City.It is the first among the shelter projects of his administration being implemented under the Pambansang Pabahay Para Sa Pilipino (4PH) Program, Marcos said on Monday, April 8.He will return to Bacolod when the mayor is ready, the president said in an ambush interview in Bacolod City on Monday, April 8.“You will have to ask the mayor, I don’t know when we will open it,” Marcos said when asked for a date.Bacolod was the first to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development so it got the jump on the other projects, Marcos sai...

Apr82024 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Marcos assures Quiboloy, Teves of fair treatment

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Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and former Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves (l-r)* President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, April 8, assured Kingdom of Christ leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and former Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves of fair treatment in the handling of their cases.But Marcos, who was in Bacolod City, rejected Quiboloy’s setting the conditions for his surrender.Quiboloy is demanding the assurance of the Marcos administration that the United States will not meddle in the criminal cases he is facing.“It seems to be a little bit ‘tail wagging the dog’ for him to set the condition for government on the handling of his case, when he is the one accused and the subject of an arrest warrant,” Marcos said.“Tail wagging the dog” is an idiom that usual...