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Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla.*Mayor Irene Montilla has issued an executive order setting the guidelines for the observance of Holy Week in Isabela, Negros Occidental, from April 3 to 9.The EO states that loud sounds at the Isabela public plaza during Holy Week is strictly prohibited.Total silence shall be observed starting 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Maundy Thursday, she said.There should also be total silence and no selling of poultry and livestock products and trading of liquor on Good Friday, Montilla added.There will be a veneration of the cross at 3 p.m., which will be followed by procession and "duaw", she said.*

The online signature campaign of XMan Bacolod against Senate Bill 1869 and “Medical Martial Law” has gathered 1,211 signatures so far, Bacolod lawyer Andrea Si said Sunday, March 19.XMan Bacolod also sent the country’s 24 senators individual hard copies of letter petitions signed by more than 2,500 Negrosanons on March 15, with more signature forms to be sent this week, Si said.The signature campaign and the online campaign at change.org are aimed at stopping the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1869, an act creating the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control.Si said among the points raised in the petition are that SB 1869 provisions infringe on the right to life, liberty, property, freedom of abode, freedom to travel, right against unreasonable searches and seizures, ...

Senator Risa Hontiveros at her press conference at the Senate on Tuesday.*Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, March 21, said three sugar traders “handpicked” by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban to import 440,000 metric tons of sugar into the country may “outrageously” rake in billions of pesos in “super profits”.As this developed DIGICAST NEGROS sources said Administrator David John Thaddeus Alba of the Sugar Regulatory Administration submitted his resignation but President Ferdinand Marcos, concurrent agriculture secretary, has yet to act on it. Alba, who is from Negros Occidental, could not be reached for comment.Hontiveros, at a press conference at the Senate in Pasay City on Tuesday, said “what we may be witnessing is the unfolding of a crime. Nothing ...

Leaders of the CENECO unions and of labor groups join a press conference at the Negros Press on Friday to oppose the JVA.*Leaders of two Central Negros Electric Cooperative labor unions on Friday, March 17, aired their opposition to an unsolicited proposal of two firms for a joint venture agreement with CENECO.The CENECO management has sent the proposal of MORE Electric and Power Corp. and Manila Electric Co. to the Energy Regulatory Commission for review.Leo Guilaran, Responsible Supervisory and Confidential Union of Employees president, said CENECO is not ailing and does need to enter into a JVA. Rommel Jerez, Ceneco Union of Rational Employees president, said their opposition to the JVA is not just a fight of the CENECO employees but also of its member of consumers.They...

The city government is aiming to put up 430 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to cover all critical areas in Bacolod this year, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez said on Monday, March 20.The CCTVs will ensure faster response to crimes and calamities, he said.Bacolod currently has 85 CCTV cameras but he is not sure how many are still functioning, Benitez said.What is important is that the CCTVs will have the capacity for facial recognition and to capture plate numbers of vehicles, especially of those involved in hit and run incidents, he said.Col. Thomas Joseph Martir, Bacolod police director, is about to exit Bacolod, he said.Benitez said he wants Bacolod to have a good police director who can act on the unsolved crimes in the city.Meanwhile, Benitez sai...

A Pontevedra resident was arrested for allegedly choking his drinking buddy to death at Hda. Casal-agan Viejo, Barangay DSB, Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, 8:05 a.m. on Thursday, March 16.Witnesses said the victim Andres Tal Bautista, 59, and suspect Christian Vincent Albaña, 22, had been drinking alcohol together.Albaña, a farm laborer, then accompanied Bautista home, but along the way the victim suddenly banged the head of the suspect on a carabao cart, the police reported.Albaña then grappled with Bautista, and punched and chocked him causing his death, the police added.The police arrested Albaña in a pursuit operation.Physical examination showed that Albaña sustained head injuries, and scratches on different parts of his body. He also had bloodstains on his neck and...

The water meters obstructing the flow of traffic in the expanded section of Lopez Jaena Street.*Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is eyeing the construction of a housing facility that will also have an area for the furniture shops located at Lopez Jaena Street in Bacolod City, to ease traffic.Solutions to the traffic problems at the University of Saint La Salle (USLS) and St. Scholastica’s Academy (SSA) areas are also being discussed, he said at a press conference on Monday, March 20.The mayor met with the furniture shop owners at Lopez Jaena Street on Friday, March 17, following complaints that they were obstructing part of the road, which is causing heavy traffic in the area with Department of Public Works and Highways’ repairs also underway on the opposite lane.The shop own...

A sceenshot of the CCTV footage of the assault on the Degamo compound on March 4.*Nearly all members of the assault team responsible for the attack on the compound of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo on March 4 have been accounted for, with four more suspects surrendering as of Tuesday, March 21.Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters the four gave themselves up to military officials in Negros Oriental."They’re on the way here (Manila) and we hope they’ll be here by tonight and turned over to us in the morning," he said.Prior to the latest surrender, five were already in custody while another one was killed during pursuit operations the morning after the attack in Pamplona town, where Degamo and eight others were killed.All six, in...

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos at a press conference of Task Force Degamo.*DILG photoA former soldier believed to have critical information and is one of the main players in the murder of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has surrendered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.The suspect strengthens the testimonies of other witnesses who earlier surrendered, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos said at a press conference of Task Force Degamo on Monday, March 20.“We were told that the suspect has vital and critical information that we hope will pave way for the resolution of this case the soonest possible time,” Abalos said.Gen. Andres Centino, chief of staff of the Armed Force...