DILG chief warns absentee Abra pols

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Local officials from the conflict-stricken province were warned to report to their respective towns or else they would be administratively and criminally charged for abandonment of their respective duties, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said here Tuesday.

Robredo, who interacted with some Abra officials and representatives of non-government groups during the 6th regional road show on the Aquino administration’s full disclosure program, said he will visit the conflict-stricken province before President Aquino delivers his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) to try to resolve long standing issues in the province that keeps violent incidents high.

“We talk soft but we walk with a big stick,” Robredo said, adding he is fully aware of what is happening in the 313 barangays and 27 towns of Abra, thus, erring local officials must shape up or ship out.

According to him, the DILG knows for a fact that many local officials are not actually reporting for duty in their respective towns but instead stay in the capital town of Bangued, thus, the need for representatives from the agency to constantly check the presence of mayors, vice-mayors, councilors, barangay captains and barangay kagawads in their respective areas of jurisdiction, except when they are on official travel or on leave.

However, Robredo said once local officials are not on their post, their absence must be supported by a travel authority or leave of absence pursuant to the provisions of the Local government Code so it will be easy to ascertain their locations and to prevent them from being administratively and criminally charged for abandonment of duty or dereliction of duty.

For the past two decades, Abra has been branded as the killing fields of the North because of violent incidents that caused the death of innocent politicians and their supporters, including the brutal murder of Abra Rep. Luis Chito Bersamin in front of a church in Quezon City in the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2006.

Robredo said the agency will hold consultations with local officials and concerned stakeholders in Abra so they would find lasting solutions to the peace and order problem as well as the issue on absenteeism among most local officials, especially local chief executives who refuse to constantly stay in their respective places of assignment.

The DILG said he will base his future actions relative to erring local officials of Abra once he will be able to receive a concrete report relative to their violations to teach them lessons if they continue to defy orders for them to attend to the needs of their constituents.