BAGUIO CITY—The Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President has ordered the suspension of Abra Vice Governor Maria Jocelyn Valera-Bernos for 18 months.
The suspension stems from a complaint filed in December 2020 by Dr. Voltaire L. Seares, the medical director of Dr. Petronillo Seares Sr. Memorial Hospital. The charges against Valera-Bernos include oppression, abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official, and disobedience to national government policies. At the time of the incident, Valera-Bernos was serving as the governor of Abra.
According to Dr. Seares' complaint, when a nurse at their hospital tested positive for COVID-19 in June 2020, the provincial government, under Valera-Bernos' orders, immediately imposed a lockdown on the hospital. Barricades were installed around the area, and Barangay Poblacion, La Paz was placed under Extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine (EECQ). Dr. Seares claimed that people inside the hospital were barred from leaving the premises. The directive was reportedly posted on Valera-Bernos' social media account.
Dr. Seares argued that the governor ordered the lockdown without sufficient basis and in violation of the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID). He emphasized that the lockdown was premature and lacked the concurrence of the Cordillera Administrative Region-Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (CAR-RIATF).
"As a result of Governor Valera-Bernos' acts, the freedom of movement and right to travel to various person trapped inside the hospital were violated resulting to undue injury and prejudice. The hospital owner's property tights as well as its doctors and other medical practitioners' right to exercise a lawful profession were curtailed, and most of all, the people of Abra were deprived of their access to healthcare," stated Dr. Seares in his complaint.
In February 2021, DESLA transmitted the case records to the Department of the Interior and Local Government for investigation, and the department submitted its report in June 2022. DESLA also issued a directive to Valera-Bernos to respond to Dr. Seares' complaint.
After reviewing the reports, issues, and arguments from both parties, DESLA found Valera-Bernos guilty of the charges. The decision noted, "Lastly, while this office takes note of the defense of Governor Valera-Bernos that she acted in the interest of public safety and general welfare of the great number of Abreños and that the right to property and liberty, during a state of calamity must yield to the general welfare of the people, her acts spoke otherwise,"
Valera-Bernos was found guilty of oppression, abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official, and disobedience to national government policies. She was penalized with a six-month suspension for each of the three charges, totaling an 18-month suspension.
In a statement, Valera-Bernos meanwhile stressed that the charges against her were dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman on 4 May, 2022. It was ruled that her actions were done in good faith and within the bounds of her duty as a public servant during a state of calamity.
She noted that her directive of an EECQ was never aimed to target any specific hospital, but a necessary and immediate action to mitigate the probable spread of the virus, adding that it was a time when no vaccine or control strategies were available.
"Kakailyak, haantayo ipalubos nga agballaygi dagiti tattao nga adda iti likod dagitoy (My fellow Abrenians, we should not allow the people behind this to to be thriumphant in these) politically motivated character and reputation attacks against me," she said.
In spite of this, the current vice governor assured the public that she would continue to look after the safety and welfare of her constituents.