BAGUIO CITY — In an order made available just this week, the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President has placed the governor and even the suspended vice governor of Abra under preventive suspension.

Based in the decision issued by DESLA Atty. Anna Liza G. Logan, Abra Governor Dominic Valera is suspended for 60 days effectively upon receipt of the order. The suspension is in accordance to the Local Government Code of 1991.

The ruling of the DESLA was based on the complaint filed last year by the spouse of Bucay Sangguniang Bayan (SB) Juan Palcon who died due to illness last year. Febes Alzate Palcon complained after another person instead of her took oath as SB member in replacement of his deceased husband.

In her complaint, Mrs. Palcon insisted she should be the one to take over the position of her late husband but instead the governor installed another person in violation of the LGC. She also said that the person who took over the position her husband left was endorsed by Valera-Bernos.

In the order, the DESLA stated that since the Vice Governor is presently serving a suspension earlier issued also by the DESLA, “the requirement that her continuance in service company could influence or pose a threat to the safety and integrity of the records and other evidence in the instant case is not present, in so far as she is concerned.” 

Bernos was suspended for 18 months after she was found guilty of oppression and abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and disobedience to government policies in connection of imposing a community lockdown affecting the services of a hospital during the pandemic in 2020.