Palace suspends Abra Governor for 60 days

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Malacañang has placed Abra Gov. Dominic Valera under preventive suspension for 60 days for violating the Local Government Code of 1991.

The decision stemmed from a complaint filed last year against Valera and his daughter, Vice Gov. Maria Jocelyn Valera-Bernos, by Febes Alzate Palcon, spouse of Bucay town councilor Juan Palcon, who succumbed to an illness in 2023.

In the complaint, Palcon claimed that Valera and his daughter violated the Local Government Code when they installed another person to replace her husband, even when the law provides that the party of the deceased member should name a replacement.

Palcon added that her husband’s party, the National Unity Party, had endorsed her to serve her husband’s unfinished term.

The Palace, through the deputy executive secretary for legal affairs of the Office of the President, favored Palcon’s argument that the power to replace the vacated town council post rests with the party he belongs to and not with the governor or the vice governor.