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The scene of the 10th shooting incident in Bacolod City this June.*A minor was killed in the 10th shooting incident in Bacolod City this June.Edgardo Gabriel Glaraga, 17, was shot in front of the Gaisano Grand Mall at Brgy. Singcang- Airport, Bacolod City, at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, Maj. Joery Puerto, Police Station 8 chief, said Thursday.The 16-year-old suspect is still at-large, he added.The minors who were allegedly sniffing rugby, a volatile substance, in front of the mall had a heated argument that led to a fist fight. The suspect then shot the victim with an alleged improvised firearm (pin gun) hitting him on the right side of his abdomen, a police report said.The victim died at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City, Puert...

Victorias City mayor-elect Javier Miguel "Javi" Benitez* Ronnie Baldonado photoMayor-elect Javier Miguel "Javi" Benitez named the incoming Victorias City administrator and legal officer on Saturday, June 25.They are lawyers Lindolf de Castro from Manila and Meddie Arbolado Jr. from Bacolod City, Benitez said in an interview.De Castro, a graduate of the University of the Philippines Dilliman College of Law, will be the city administrator and Arbolado will be the city legal officer.Benitez said De Castro worked under former Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa during the Aquino administration."I'm very delighted that he is taking on the task as city administrator even though he is not from the area. Administration work is minimal politics and maximum governance. I want that...

Talisay Mayor Neil Lizares takes his oath before Rep. Francisco Benitez during the inauguration and oathtaking ceremony at the Talisay City Public Plaza, Tuesday, June 28.*Numerous town and city officials took their oaths of office Tuesday, June 28.In Talisay  mayor Neil Lizares and  vice mayor-elect  Nicolai Jalandoni led the oath taking rites of the city officials before  Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ.,  3rd District).Isabela mayor-elect Irene Montilla, vice mayor-elect Juan Miguel Montilla, and Sannguniang Bayan members  Eduardo Española, Raymund Gerard Montilla, Joe Al Williams, Arjay Ansag and Rene Iturriaga took their oaths of office before Negros Occidental  Gov. Eugenio Jose  Lacson at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City.La Castellana mayor Rhumyla Nicor Mangil...

Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko (left) said the RONO was approved by the SP on June 14.*The Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan has granted a Resolution of No Objection (RONO) for the construction and operation of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plant in San Carlos City.The SP on June 14 granted the RONO for the power plant proposed by Reliance Energy Development Inc., a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko, SP Committee on Energy chairman, said Thursday, June 23.REDI needed the RONO for its application for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the construction of its proposed 300 megawatt combined cycle power plant at barangays Punao and Palampas estimated to cost P18.5 billionThe plant will help the energy security of th...

The lives of six Moises Padilla residents, five of whom are local officials, will at last return to normal with their recent release from detention after posting bail, Mayor Celestina Garcia Yulo said Monday, June 27.The six have been falsely accused of the murder of Moises Padilla councilor Jolomar Hilario in 2019, she said.Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Ian Villafor and Councilor Jimmie Don Plaza were released from the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation on Saturday.Councilors Morito Flores and Vincent Garcia, and Quintin Remo Barangay Captain Fely Villaflor and her husband, Jonathan, were released from the custody of the Moises Padilla police on Friday.The Guihulngan Regional Trial Court allowed them to post bail of P200,000 each, the mayor said.The six have d...

Mayor Evelio Leonardia cuts the ribbon at the inauguration of the widened Gonzaga Bridge .*Mayor Evelio Leonardia honored the frontliners who risked their lives in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and called them "modern-day heroes" who paved the way for Bacolod City’s de-escalation to Alert Level 1, at rites held on Monday, June 27.Leonardia led officials, along with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the local Inter-Agency Task Force, in paying tribute to the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force and COVID Vaccination Council volunteers, headed by Councilor-elect Em Legaspi Ang, with her deputies Dr. Chris Sorongon and Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office at the Bacolod City Government Center, a press release said....

Bacolod mayor-elect Alfredo Benitez during a recent meeting with incoming president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (right)*Incoming president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may issue an executive order creating the Negros Island Region (NIR) ahead of the passage of a law, Bacolod mayor-elect Alfredo Benitez said on Saturday, June 25.He said the EO could be issued so the new region can begin operating even before a law creating it is passed.“It will come from the Office of the President as recommended by the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government), we are working on that. In the meantime that we don’t have a law we will do with an executive order,” he said.“Let’s wait and see”, Benitez said.Twelve congressmen are jointly filing a bill seeking the establishment of the NIR, whi...

Negros Occidental, its 31 local government units (LGUs) and Bacolod City will suffer a P3.8 billion drop in National Tax Allotments for 2023, data from Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson on Friday, June 24, showed.That means they will receive a total of P22,509,531,116 in 2023 compared to P26,317,672,315 in 2022.The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) informed Lacson that all LGUs will face 14.47 percent NTA cuts in 2023 because of low tax collections at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.The Negros Occidental provincial government 2023 NTA share will drop by P782,280,808, Bacolod City – P302 696, 617, the 12 Negros Occidental cities – P2 billion and 19 municipalities – P706,076,15, the DBM said.The following are the 2023 NTA shares for Negros Occidental and Bacolod Ci...

The importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar granted by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) will not bring down the high retail prices in the local market, Rep.-elect Emilio YuloIII (Neg. Occ., 5th District) said Saturday, June 25.That is because the imported sugar under Sugar Order No. 3 is geared towards the use of industrial users, Yulo, a former member of the Sugar Board, said.The problem with the SRA’s importation program is it did not start on the right foot, he said.If the SRA granted the importation after the end of the milling season, it would have been easy for sugar producers and other stakeholders to accept that there was a need for it, he said.The SRA, in a statement Friday, said at the time Sugar Order No. 3 s.2021-2022 was crafted, it was clear that ...