Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said buildings to be constructed on Negros Occidental provincial government-owned properties at the Paglaum Sports Stadium and along Gatuslao Street in Bacolod City are expected to create about 41,000 new Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) jobs for Negrenses.

The governor announced this at the Negros First ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Summit at the Business Inn in Bacolod City, attended by Ivan John Enrile Uy, chairman of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology.

Uy noted that Bacolod City has been cited as the 3rd Next Wave City in the Philippines and Tholons International’s top 100th city in the world for outsourcing.

The death toll from the accident in Sipalay City Wednesday has risen to four, PO3 Glyn Galilea, Sipalay City police traffic division chief, said yesterday.

Four persons, including a public school teacher, were killed and seven were injured when a tricycle and a van carrying a cadaver figured in a collision at Crossing Bado in Barangay Gil Montilla, Sipalay City, at about 5:55 p.m. Wednesday.

One of the wheels of the sidecar of an overloaded tricycle got into a pothole causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle just as the Hope van of the Sipalay City government was approaching, Galilea said.

Cards to be distributed to drivers in the Western Visayas under the Pantawid Pasada Program or the Public Transport Assistance Program of the government will be turned over to the Land Transportation Office in Iloilo City on June 9, Rey Maleza of the Department of Energy-Visayas Field Office, said yesterday.

The LTO will then schedule their distribution in of the region, he said.

The Smart cards to be distributed are supposed to be pre-loaded with P1,050, equivalent to a fuel assistance of P35 per day for one whole month.