BACOLOD CITY — Senior Supt. Romeo Baleros, newly-appointed officer-in-charge of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), has warned policemen in the province against engaging in illegal activities.

“We have zero tolerance to any member of the Philippine National Police who is found directly or indirectly involved in illicit activity. The full force of the law shall be applied against you,” Baleros said in his speech during the command turnover ceremony held at the Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. here Monday.

He added that the NOCPPO has “no place for a few members who are still involved in illegal activities”.

“I will not condone anyone who taint the good image of our prestigious organization,” Baleros said.

The new provincial police chief took the helm from Senior Supt. Rodolfo Castil Jr., who also succeeded Baleros in his previous post as chief of the the Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 (Western Visayas) Intelligence Division.

The turnover of command was supervised by Senior Supt. Harold Tuzon, chief of PRO-6 Directorial Staff, in the presence of Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Department of the Interior and Local Government Provincial Director Carmelo Orbista, and National Police Commission Provincial Director Mae Diamante.

“As the newly-installed officer-in-charge, I have three lined up programs to be implemented under my watch which are anchored on the President’s priority thrust programs that he used as battlecry during the 2016 campaign period,” Baleros said.

He said these are the government efforts against illegal drugs, criminality, and corruption.

“First, let us conduct continuing legal offensives against illegal drug traffickers and illegal substance abusers and their cohorts under the concept of demand and supply reduction and implementation of Project: Double Barrel…I will be in the frontline in the fight against this menace,” he said.

Baleros said the provincial police will assist and support the members of the anti-drug abuse councils in conducting their drug clearing program, as a support unit of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6.

“Second, is our extensive and intensive anti-criminality campaign. We have to prevent and suppress all forms of criminality and other forms of threat by conducting deliberate and sustained operations on eight focus crimes,” he pointed out.

Baleros said the campaign will be done alongside their counterparts in the Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as the national support units, and concerned stakeholders.

He urged Negrense policemen to strengthen the campaign against criminals, put them behind bars, and ensure their convictions.

“Third, is our utmost desire to get rid of corruption and cleanse our ranks of misfits and scalawags,” he said.

Baleros stressed that the doctrine of “punishment and reward” will be equally applied among the policemen.

“Those who excel in their performance shall be awarded and given recognition while personnel who are still involved in irregularities and other forms of unlawful activities using his or her position for personal gain will be investigated,” he further said. (PNA)  

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1058200

BACOLOD CITY — An industry leader has pushed for a stronger collaboration with the government and the academe to sustain the growth of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, as destinations of choice for information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled opportunities.

John Dave Dueñas, president of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT), said they aim to further strengthen their linkages with other industry stakeholders this 2019.

Dueñas, who works as chief executive officer of HYBrain Development Corp., said the province’s capital, Bacolod City, aspires to be one of the country’s creative hubs with a growing number of creative workers doing freelance or studio projects in animation, game development, and software development.

“We also have a deep pool of talents for higher value jobs, such as creative services, financial services management, and also in healthcare information management (HIM) because we have so many graduates in health care courses and creative services,” he said.

BNEFIT will focus more on projects that will prepare the current labor market to be more adaptive to the new trends in technology, he added.

In 2018, the ICT industry in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City marked a success.

Bacolod, from its previous 12th place slide in 2017, made a big jump on Tholons Services Globalization Index (TSGI) after placing 89th in the world’s top 100 cities for global services in 2018.

It is eight notches higher from its 97th place ranking in 2017, Tholons’ research report and ranking of the Top 50 Digital Nations and Top 100 Super Cities for 2018 showed.

According to BNEFIT, the business environment in Bacolod is attractive to potential investors and ICT organization locators, which can be attributed to the business-friendliness of the local government unit (LGU), government transparency, incentives for new locators, strong infrastructure for ICT-related companies, and availability of skills and talent in the locality.

The cost of doing business is also lower in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City compared to other locations.

“Quality of life is better, electricity is cheaper than elsewhere, there is live-work-play balance, peace and order is way better, crime rates are low, with high literacy rate, and better English speakers of the manpower are also prevalent,” Dueñas said.

He expressed optimism that the industry would be able to grow tremendously, mainly because of the effective cooperation of the ICT private companies, academe, and LGUs.

“The effort is not single-handed but collaborative in nature and we owe it to the community for creating a positive atmosphere for the investors and locators,” Dueñas added. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057959

BACOLOD CITY — A local business leader has expressed optimism about the continuing uptrend of investments in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, this 2019.

Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said the business sector in the province saw the worst and the best of times last year.

He cited the high food prices and fuel costs among the worst part, but also noted the billions of investments poured in as the best part.

Among these investments were those of property giants Ayala Land Inc. and Megaworld Corp. along with Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp.’s opening of its new passenger terminal, SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s hotel development, and the start of economic highway construction in the province.

“All of these mean that in 2018, we created a lot of job and livelihood opportunities for Negrenses,” Carbon said.

He added it has been the investment trend in Negros Occidental for the last eight years and is expected to continue in 2019 and even beyond.

For this year, it is not only the service sector investments that will increase but more developments in the power sector are expected as well.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines is gearing up for the establishment of its 230-kilovolt Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone Project targeted to be completed by 2020.

Carbon said that on the generation side, the business sector is hopeful that SMC Global Power Corp. will also start its coal-fired power plant project in San Carlos City.

“This is another investment, a big investment,” he added.

Carbon also said that solar power farms may also venture into biomass energy generation to complement their production.

“Service and power sectors put together, there’s going to be a lot of jobs and livelihood for Negros in 2019,” the business leader said.

The MBCCI itself is upbeat that the government sector, particularly the Department of Public Works and Highways, will continue the development of inter-provincial road networks.

Tourism and information and communications technology are among the major industries in the province seen to further improve this year, the business group added. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057929