DROWNING INCIDENT. Responders provide assistance to excursionists after a drowning incident at the Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental on Sunday (Aug. 28, 2022). Four of the 16 persons who visited the area drowned due to strong current, the police said. (Photo courtesy of Cadiz City Coast Guard Sub-Station) BACOLOD CITY - Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental said on Monday the city government will temporarily prohibit the public from going to the Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Barangay Sicaba after four excursionists drowned on Sunday afternoon. "Starting today, we will try to close the facility until further notice or until such time we can introduce appropriate safety measures," he said in a radio interview. Escalante said the area is a coral reef and people are allowed to visit although they are just being cautioned to be always alert of strong currents which usually occur during high tides. On Sunday, a group of 16 people visited fo
BACOLOD CITY - At least two component cities in Negros Occidental have required their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) or be tested regularly at their own expense. The directives were provided in the respective memoranda issued by Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo and Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. to their respective City Hall employees on Thursday night. "Effective Dec. 15, 2021, eligible employees, job order and contract of service workers, who remain to be unvaccinated shall be required to undergo regular RT-PCR or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test at their own expense every 15 days for purposes of on-site work," Yulo said in a memorandum. Antigen test may be resorted to if RT-PCR test capacity is insufficient or not immediately available, it added. The Bago mayor directed department heads and chiefs of office to strictly monitor the compliance of unvaccinated employees, as well as to submit a list of all