An education summit is set in May to address the problem of seven out of nine school divisions in Negros Occidental having been ranked among the bottom 40 performers in the country, Dr. Mildred Garay, Department of Education regional director, said yesterday.

Only the school divisions of La Carlota and Bacolod cities in Negros Occidental were not in the bottom 40, she said.

In the bottom 40 are the division offices of Bago, Cadiz, Escalante, Kabankalan, Sagay, San Carlos, and Silay.

It was a surprise win for Hinoba-an’s bet Ann Marie Malayo, who was crowned the Lin-ay sg Negros 2011 before the  jam-packed Panaad Coliseum in Bacolod City at past 12 a.m. today.

Malayo, 19, and a college student of Silliman University bested 23 other candidates vying for this year’s crown. She did not get any corporate awards in the first half of the pageant, but was adjudged best in swimsuit and in long gown before the announcement of the top 10 finalists.

Malayo received P60,000 in cash and a full scholarship for a year in the school of her choice.

Central Negros Electric Cooperative general manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. yesterday said that KEPCO-Salcon is not providing CENECO power at P8.24 per kilowatt hour.

Lagarde was reacting to reports that CENECO’s contract with KEPCO-Salcon has resulted in higher priced power, instead of Green Core that had offered power at P3.80 per kilowatt hour.

Lagarde said that in 2007, CENECO signed a power sales contract with KEPCO for a 40MW base load for delivery in March 2011, at P4.76 per kilowatt-hour. Three years later, Green Core and Unified Leyte/PSALM offered its base load capacities to CENECO, he said.