Palace axes Abra Gov for 60 days for Local Govt Code breach

BAGUIO CITY (December 9, 3024)—Malacanang via the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President, both placed Abra governor Dominic Valera and even the already suspended Vice Governor of Abra, his daughter, under preventive suspension for 60 days.

The ruling by DESLA penned by Atty. Anna Liza G. Logan on December 2, 2024 ordered Abra Governor Dominic Valera be suspended for 60 days effective upon receipt of such order upon a complaint last year by Febes Alzate Palcon, spouse of Bucay Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member Juan Palcon, who succumbed to an illness in 2023.

Febes Alzate Palcon complained that Gov. Valera and VGov Valera-Bernos installed another person to replace her husband despite her endorsement from the national leadership of his husband’s political party National Unity Party (NUP), which is also in violation of the Local Government Code of 1991.

Malacanang also favored Palcon versus VGov. Valera-Bernos, who endorsed the replacement of the deceased SB Palcon for Gov. Valera’s appointment, even as according to the NUP rules, such powers to endorse replacements rests on the national leadership of the party.

The DESLA 2-month suspension order though even included VGov. Valera-Bernos though added, “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". 

Valera-Bernos is serving an 18-month suspension for 3 counts of oppression and abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and disobedience to government policies for imposing a community lockdown affecting the services of a hospital in Bangued, the provincial capital, during the pandemic in 2020, without the approval of the Regional Anti-Covid Task Force.