METROPOST


Dauin to revive scuba diving


Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved and adopted the executive order of Dauin town for the reopening of their diving industry under the “tourism bubble” concept to revive the tourism economy in the area. With only few cases of COVID-19, the municipality of Dauin aims to gradually revive the once thriving scuba diving industry in the province amid the modified community quarantine with the firm commitment to ensure the health, security, enjoyment and well-being of all divers, diveshop employees, and residents, stated Mayor Galicano Truita in the EO. The Apo Island has been recognized as one of the best dive sites in the world. The said EO requires all dive tourism-oriented establishments operating in Dauin to intensify their health and safety protocols. In a proposal, Truita pushed for the compliance of the Department of Health and the Department of


Diocesan group


gears up for 2022 polls


This early, the Diocesan Electoral Board of the Diocese of Dumaguete is lining up its election agenda in preparation for the 2022 presidential and national elections with voters’ education as its first undertaking.


CoViD situation ‘sustained’-- Liland


Msgr. Julius Perpetuo Heruela, convenor, in an interview Friday, said the election agenda is part of the body’s activities in advocating for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections. The DEB’s technical working group met Thursday in Dauin, Negros Oriental to initially look at which pressing issues should be included in the agenda and to be discussed during voters’ education activities.


These would include the environment, peace and order, health, livelihood, and anti-violence against women, among others. The voters’ education is expected to reel off in the coming weeks, tapping on social media as the new platform as face-to- face encounters and large gatherings are discouraged with the continuing pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019, Heruela said.


changes in the electoral process and related activities due to the TO PAGE 10


The DEB also foresees


The health commitee chair of the Negros Oriental Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Monday described the local Covid-19 situation as “sustained”, hopeful that the number of coronavirus disease 2019 cases in the Province will soon decline. Dr. Liland Estacion, who is also assistant provincial health officer, said in a virtual press briefing Monday afternoon that the local Covid-19 situation is “sustained”.


“Tan-aw nako walay decline pero na sustained lang ta ug wala na nisaka pagdaghan (I don’t see any decline yet but we have sustained it as the cases are not as many now),” she said.


Estacion noted that the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory here has resumed running tests and can release its own swab test results in the coming days.


throat swab specimens as the NOPHML has a daily limit and also does not operate on weekends. The Province received


from Cebu City over the weekend 423 results broken down into 410 negatives, eight new positives, and five repeat-swab positive infections, she said. There are 16 recoveries from Tanjay City (11); Amlan (three); Bacong and Siaton (one each), while the new eight cases are from Bacong (four); Tanjay City (two); Sta. Catalina and Guihulngan (one each), she added.


deaths due to Covid-19 were reported over the weekend.


Estacion also said two


These are those of a 65-year-old-male from Barangay Piapi and an 87-year-old-male from Barangay Bagacay in this capital city.


Barangay Piapi number 1 Councilman Clark Lani takes his oath as the new barangay captain before Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, witnessed by Dumaguete DILG Officer Christopher Pastor, following the death of barangay captain Charlemaigne Bantilan Sunday due to COVID 19. (Lupad Dumaguete photo)


The Negros Oriental


Tourism guidelines prior to the re-opening of dive sites. In a joint PIATF and consultative meeting earlier with local government units, DOT-7 Regional Director Shalimar Tamano agreed to the proposal and presented the standard travel protocols that the LGUs can adopt, which include the COVID-19 test- before-travel or test-upon- arrival options, the validity of the required COVID-19 test,


conf i rmed hotel reservation with a DOT- accredited accommodation establishment, confirmed round-trip plane tickets, and tour itinerary with a DOT-accredited tour operator.


These mitigating measures on strictly enforcing minimum public health and safety standards would ensure the protection of tourists and locals from any possible COVID-19 transmission.


“Specifically, the tourist should have a 72- hour PCR negative test result, acceptance letter from Dauin, and email the itinerary to the LGU, so that it is like a contract where there is an itinerary to be submitted and have approved before the travel, and the tourist cannot go outside of Dauin,” said Tamano. He added that once the


tourist arrives at the airport or seaport, there will be a van from the hotel/ resort that is accredited from the DOT to pick them up and bring them directly to the resort.


Dauin is also advised to have a list of tourism sites like the Baslay Brew Coffee where strict protocols must be followed, and law enforcers are present to ensure that the tourists are only confined to the areas stated in their approved itinerary. (jct/PIA7 NegOr)


New Piapi brgy chief sworn in


of office before Mayor Felipe Remollo, witnessed by City DILG Officer Christopher Pastor.


JANUARY 10 - JANUARY 16, 2021


NEWS and UPDATES 3 CAMPUS NEWS


The No. 1 Councilman of barangay Piapi was sworn in as the new barangay captain Monday, following Sunday’s death of Barangay Capt. Charlemagne Bantilan from COVID 19. Clark Labi took his oath


the death of a reliable and industrious leader like Bantilan, and that the assumption of Labi as punong barangay will ensure that government services will continue in Piapi.


Meanwhile, former Dumaguete City Councilor Eduardo “Bolone” Miciano Perdices also died from COVID 19 last Sunday. Perdices, 87, also served barangay 4 as barangay captain and councilman.


Remollo said he mourns


Dumaguete lads get scholarships at Harvard


Two young Dumagueteños who are high school seniors in Boston, Massachusetts have been accepted at Harvard University and will begin their respective college courses in September this year.


The Antonio twins Jose Miguel “Miggy” will pursue the Economics and Government undergraduate program,


Bantilan, 65, also served barangay Piapi as former kagawad.


Miggy and Marcky Antonio off to Harvard.


while Jose Marco “Marcky” will study Cellular and Molecular Biology at Harvard.


The Antonio twins are among this year’s batch of only 747 freshmen at Harvard, selected from a record high of 10,086 applicants, marking the most competitive early- admissions cycle in the 385-year history of this Ivy League institution in New England. “The Committee voted to offer you admission because we believe you will make important contributions to others during your college years and beyond. Your academic, extra-curricuclar, and personal strengths will also enable you to access the remarkable opportunities available across the University, while adding to the vibrant student


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SU Senior High gets own home in campus


Silliman University held the groundbreaking ceremony for the academic building for Senior High School near the Luce Auditorium.


Designed by Architecture faculty of the University, the building will be completed by August 2022 when the University hopes to conduct face-to-face classes, according toVP for Development Jane Annette Belarmino. President Betty Cernol-McCann said the purpose of the building is to give Senior High students and faculty a “sense of place and a sense of home”.


Silliman SHS accepted its first batch of Grade 11 students in June 2016, using available classrooms in various colleges. “As more and more SHS students enrolled and the transition to K-12 progressed...our students were slowly crowded out of the academic buildings in campus,” added Belarmino.


The building will have 24 classrooms. Each room can accommodate 40 students. Before the implementation of online distance learning for all Silliman programs in SY 2020, Senior High School had almost 2,000 students every year.


SU administrators led by President Betty McCann do the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Senior High School building, together with representatives of the construction team.


Meanwhile, Dr. Gina Fontejon-Bonior, associate dean of the College of Education, said the lack of a designated building for SHS also made it difficult for teachers to go to their classes as they had to move between buildings that were far from each other. “The SHS building is not just...a structure, it is a social space where our students will converge; where ideas could be co-constructed; where, several years from now, our graduates from the SHS would come for their reunion. This is going to be home. For faculty, this is about health; this is about their well-being,” said Dr. Bonior. (SU OIP)


Both were admitted to private hospitals and expired on Sunday, Jan. 17, Estacion said.


She explained that the province continues to send to Cebu City testing laboratories Covid-19


There were reports that the two new mortalities are an incumbent barangay chairman and a former


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