Capitol recommending
prov’l state of calamity
Ilog, Sipalay, Hinoba-an declarations up
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday recommending that the province be placed under a state of calamity after several days of rains displaced thousands of Negrenses in the southern and central towns and cities.

This developed as flood-hit Sipalay City, Hinoba-an and Ilog declared states of calamities at their levels yesterday.

Officials of other flood-hit towns and cities were assessing flood damage yesterday to determine whether they need to declare states of calamities in their areas, too.

Crop, animal damage
hits P37.2 million
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Damage to crops, livestock and fisheries  caused by floods that hit Negros Occidental  over the weekend reached  P37,243,705,  partial reports showed yesterday .

Provincial Agriculturists Igmedio Tabianan said damage to palay was P36,527,320, and  fisheries P314,285.

The palay areas hit were in Himamaylan, Kabankalan and  Sipalay cities, and  Hinigaran, Moises Padilla, Isabela, Cauayan, Ilog, Candoni, and Hinobaan towns covering  2,422 hectares, Tabianan said.

IN EB MAGALONA
100 families flee
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Thick white smoke from a newly-harvested sugarcane field, burned by farm workers yesterday engulfed the entire Hope Village and neighboring puroks in Brgy. 1, in EB Magalona, forcing more than 100 families to temporarily flee from their homes.

Residents of Hope Village, that is located beside the burned canefield, in Brgy. Tuburan, EB Magalona complained of difficulty in breathing and dizziness, among others, because of the thick smoke.

The responsibility for the burning was traced to workers of an hacienda in Brgy. Tuburan, EB Magalona, owned by the family of Sugar Regulatory Administrator Gina Bautista-Martin.