BAGUIO CITY — A local court granted Abra Vice Governor Joy Valera-Bernos’ petition for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against her suspension this week.
In an order issued by Judge Corpus B. Alzate of the First Judicial Region of the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Bangued, Abra, the TRO stated that the implementation of the suspension order slapped by the Deputy Secretary of Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President against Valera-Bernos should cease and desist.
To recall, DESLA ordered Valera-Bernos to vacate her office for 18 months. The order was signed by Atty. Anna Liza G. Logan on 12 August 2024.
The suspension order was a decision on the complaint filed in December 2020 by Dr. A.C. Voltaire L. Seares, the medical director of Dr. Petronillo Seares Sr. Memorial Hospital. Valera-Bernos, who was the governor of Abra at the time, faced accusations of oppression and abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official, and disobedience to national government policies for imposing a lockdown on Seares Hospital, located in Barangay Poblacion, La Paz, Abra.
The lockdown was prompted by a Covid-19 case involving a hospital nurse in June 2020. The provincial government’s measures included erecting barricades around the hospital and placing Barangay Poblacion under Extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine.
Seares claimed that the lockdown caused the deprivation of appropriate services from the hospital for the people.
Meantime, regional director Araceli San Jose of the Department of Interior and Local Government Cordillera ordered Valera-Bernos’ immediate suspension. In her petition, Valera-Bernos argued that the decretal portion of the DESLA decision specifically states that the suspension should not exceed her unexpired term.
She also argued that the suspension cannot be implemented because the vice-governor is not performing the functions of a governor. The copy stated, “The term of then governor Maria Jocelyn V. Bernos has already expired.”