Heavy turnout for filing
of CoCs in Negros Occ.
BY CARLA GOMEZ

There was a heavy turnout of candidates who filed their certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections offices in Negros Occidental yesterday, many of whom even arrived before the start of office hours at 8 a.m., Provincial Elections Supervisor Jessie Suarez said.

 Suarez said this is unusual because, traditionally, there is a low turnout in the first few days set for the filing of CoCs.

He said perhaps the large turnout of candidates is due to the information campaign by the COMELEC on the need to file CoCs, and the excitement of bets to hold barangay posts with the national elections set for 2016..

Bacolod gets 370
‘early bird' bets
BY SHIELA GELERA & CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Three hundred seventy local candidates for the October 28 Barangay elections in Bacolod City filed their certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections – Bacolod Field Office on the first day of filing yesterday.

Bacolod Election Officer Mavil Majarucon-Sia yesterday said they consider the early filing of COC's of 33 candidates for barangay captain and 337 candidates for kagawads from the different barangays in Bacolod City, a welcome development.

This will help them start preparing the certified list of candidates, she said. They may be able to have the complete list by October 21, she added.

DOH holds lifting of
magic sugar ban
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health will hold in abeyance the lifting of the ban on the use of magic sugar in the Philippines in response to the request of members of the Visayan bloc in congress, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Martin announced yesterday.

“In effect, magic sugar is still prohibited,” she said.

“The ban on magic sugar is good news. First it is banned in the US, it is hazardous to health, as it is a chemically-produced sugar,” she added.