Palace suspends Abra vice governor for unjust hospital lockdown

BAGUIO CITY , Philippines – Malacañang has suspended Abra Vice Gov. Ma. Jocelyn Valera-Bernos for 18 months after unjustly locking down the Dr. Petronillo Seares Sr. Memorial Hospital in Bangued, Abra during the pandemic.

A copy of the decision from the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) of the Office of the President said Bernos was ordered to vacate her post after finding her guilty of oppression and abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and disobedience to national government policies.

The 18-month suspension stemmed from a complaint against Bernos, then the province’s governor, in December 2020 by Dr. Voltaire L. Seares, medical director of the hospital, after she imposed a lockdown on the hospital.

According to the complaint, the provincial government of Abra immediately imposed a lockdown, installed barricades around the hospital and placed the barangay where the hospital is located under extreme enhanced community quarantine (EECQ) when one of their nurses was stricken with COVID-19 in June 2020.

People inside the hospital were barred from leaving the premises, the complaint added.

The lockdown order was said to have been posted on social media by Bernos.

Seares complained that Bernos ordered the lockdown of the hospital without sufficient basis and in violation of the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease.

He stressed that the lockdown was made prematurely and without the concurrence of the Cordillera Administrative Region-Regional Inter-Agency Task Force.

“The freedom of movement and right to travel of various persons trapped inside the hospital were violated, resulting in undue injury and prejudice. The hospital owner’s property rights as well as its doctors and other medical practitioners’ right to exercise a lawful profession were curtailed,” Seares said in the complaint.

“Most of all, the people of Abra were deprived of their access to health care,” the complaint added.

The DESLA on February 2021 transmitted the records of the case to the Department of the Interior and Local Government for investigation, which submitted its report in June 2022. Bernos was also asked to answer Seares’ complaint against her.

Weighing the reports, issues and arguments of the camps involved, the DESLA found that Bernos committed the misdemeanor as claimed by Seares, regardless of her intentions for the interest of the public.

Bernos, through a statement released Thursday morning, stressed that the charges against her were dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman on May 4, 2022.

According to her, 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 added 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 when no known control and vaccine were available at the time.

“My fellow Abrenians, we should not allow the people behind this to be triumphant in these politically motivated character and reputation attacks against me,” Bernos said.

Despite this, she assured the Abrenians that she will continue to look after the safety and welfare of the public together with her father, Gov. Dominic Valera.