Top Negros officials’ sign
support  for PNoy on DAP’
BY CARLA P. GOMEZ

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday released a statement of support, he and 37 other top officials of Negros Occidental have signed, in support of President Benigno Aquino III on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) issue.
         
The Negros officials, in their joint statement, said they are expressing their full support for the President in his resolve to appeal the decision of the Supreme Court declaring the DAP unconstitutional.
         
“With due respect to the High Court, we believe that their decision on the DAP failed to take into account the realities of the budget process,” they said.

Resurrect HB 1477?

The proposed One Negros Island Region or House Bill 1477 that had been dormant for the last 15 years, and its re-activation on June 23, 2014 by incumbent government officials from both provinces is interesting.
         
Historically, Negros Island was administratively part of Iloilo until 1734, when it was established as a district military province in 1850. In 1890, Negros was divided into Negros Occidental with Bacolod as its capital and Negros Oriental with Tanjay as the capital, but, presently, it is Dumaguete City.
In the 11th Congress of the Philippines in 1997, House Bill 1477 entitled “An Act Merging the Province of Negros Occidental and Oriental in one Island Region known as Region VI-A and for other purposes” was introduced.

HB 1477 intended to merge Negros Oriental and Occidental into one region, establishing the regional center along the boundary of the two provinces from Tagucon, Kabankalan City and in Hagtu, Mabinay, Negros Oriental with the explanatory note of the bill emphasizing commonalities between the two provinces.

Local health  officials authorities are keeping a close watch on suspected cases of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease that exhibits some similar clinical symptoms as those  of dengue fever, in Dumaguete City.
           
Dr. Socrates Villamor, chief of the provincial team of the Department of Health in Negros Oriental, said  yesterday that  a few suspected  chikungunya cases were reported to his office by the Dumaguete City Health Office.
           
But the patients were not subjected to blood serum testing by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Metro Manila due to late reporting. Ideally, a patient believed to have the viral disease should be subjected to testing within one week from the onset of symptoms, Villamor said..