BAGUIO CITY — The Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President (OP) has declared the suspension of Abra Vice-Governor Joy Valera-Bernos as final and executory.
DESLA official Atty. Anna Liza G. Logan — in an order released earlier this week — disclosed that there is no Motion for Reconsideration filed before them as of 13 September 2024 in connection to the suspension order slapped against Valera-Bernos.
The decision to suspend the official was promulgated by the DESLA on 12 August 2024.
To recall, Valera-Bernos was ordered suspended for 18 months after being found guilty by DESLA of oppression and abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and disobedience to national government policies.
The complaint against her was filed by Dr. Voltaire Seares on December 2020 when Valera-Bernos was then the governor of Abra regarding her decision lock down a hospital in Abra due to a June 2020 Covid case.
Seares claimed the provincial government’s response included erecting barricades around the hospital and placing the barangay where it is located under Extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine. Seares argued that the lockdown deprived the public of essential services from the hospital.
Valera-Bernos filed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that was granted by a local court in Abra on 13 September, 2024. The TRO lapsed on 23 September 2024.
Logan also said that no appeal was filed with the Court of Appeals (CA) contradicting the suspension order against Valera-Bernos as of 17 September 2024. “Thus, the 12 August 2024 is hereby declared Final and Executory,” wrote the decision.