DA: Negros facing
P717.1M crop loss
Reg’l office proposing P190M mitigation for WV
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The damage projected by the Department of Agriculture to rice and corn in Negros Occidental, which has been classified as a highly vulnerable El Niño  area, is P717,132,000 if not mitigated, Remelyn Recoter, DA Western Visayas regional technical director for operations, said yesterday.

The projected production loss to 7,260 hectares of rice involving 25,080 metric tons is P351,120,000, and to 32,781 hectares of corn involving 30,501 metric tons is P366,012,000, she said.

Recoter, however, said the areas and projected amount of damage in Negros Occidental are still subject for validation.

One of the two robbers, who broke into the residence of an Airforce officer in Brgy. Handumanan at about 2 a.m. Tuesday, allegedly raped his wife in front of their three children, the police said yesterday.

The victim, in her 30’s, told the police that she was sleeping in their room with her children when one of the men who was wearing a bonnet, suddenly came in and threatened her and her children with a knife.

Reports from BOMBO RADYO Bacolod said that the victim’s husband was not home at the time and she could not call or seek  help because the robber tied both her hands and covered her mouth.

The 93,000 residential consumers of Central Negros Electric Cooperative will no longer  have to pay an additional 30 centavos per kilowatt hour  starting this month, CENECO manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said yesterday.

That is because the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. has finally paid CENECO the P12.9 million it owed the cooperative for November and December, he said.

Under Mandatory Rate Reduction residential consumers have been enjoying a 30 centavos per kilowatt hour rate reduction, Lagarde explained.