Suspension of Kalinga gov starts; vice gov takes over

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- The one-month suspension of Kalinga Gov. Jocel Baac started last week after President Aquino ordered Baac suspended for hitting broadcaster Jerome Tabanganay with a microphone last year.

Vice Gov. Sammy Manawang took over as acting governor during Baac’s suspension, a statement issued by the office of the provincial administrator said.

A video showed Baac barging into the dzRK station and attacking Tabanganay.

Baac said he would abide by the order, even as he maintained he did not intend to harm Tabanganay.

“I will comply but with a heavy heart because the programs and projects, including the autonomy campaign, will be sacrificed.  It is the people who will be deprived of our services,” Baac said.

When asked what prompted him to confront Tabanganay, Baac said, “his unbalanced reporting.”

He lamented the timing of the issuance of the suspension which coincides with the 25^th founding anniversary of the Cordillera Administrative Region, aside from the delay in the  implementation of  services to his constituents.

His suspension arose from a complaint by the National Press Club after the governor entered the government-run station Radyo ng Bayan in Tabuk, Kalinga after Tabanganay reportedly kept on hitting Baac’s administration.

Baac said he entered the radio booth where Tabanganay was because the latter kept on criticizing his administration based on unverified allegations that he received through text messages.  

In a phone interview Baac said that protecting his constituents against any form of abuse is a primordial duty of a governor.

“Ang pagpiggil ng tahasang pangabuso at paggamit ni  Tabanganay  sa press freedom laban sa mamamayan ay parte ng aking  katungkulan,” (stopping abuses and the improper use of ‘press freedom’ against the citizenry is part of my duty), he added.   

He said that the decision to suspend him is also partly politics saying, “once you enter politics, you create both friends and enemies.”

He said he does not discount the fact that his political detractors also have a hand in the unverified text messages that were being announced through radio with the intention to destroy him.

“The important thing here,” he said, “is I have protected government officials and employees who were subject of Tabanganay’s  criticisms through his radio program ‘Agenda.’”

Baac said he earlier stopped the proliferation of jueteng in kalinga.

Baac’s move was reportedly lauded by the religious sector of the province.

After Baac stopped jueteng, it was gathered that Tabanganay started his daily barrage against the PNP and the administration.

In one of his broadcasts, Tabanganay reportedly urgcd the New People’s Army to join in his crusade against anti-gambling because the PNP was useless in stopping the illegal numbers game.

Tabanganay’s radio statements were tackled during the  provincial “Kapehan,” a monthly meeting of all provincial national and local government heads of offices including the private sector which recommended to Radyo ng Bayan that government radio announcers should first check and ascertain their facts before any broadcasts  are made.

Asked what to do with the 30 day suspension, Baac said he will use it to recover lost time with family, friends and relatives.

Meanwhile,  it was a learned that Tabanganay is  facing an administrative case filed with the civil service commission also for acts of unbecoming a government employee due to a previous  rape case filed   while he was a radio broadcaster in Mt. Province.

Earlier President Aquino warned in his order that similar action, like what Baac reportedly did to Tabanganay will be dealt with more severely.   

In an order dated June 27 signed in behalf of the President by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa the President upheld the recommendation of the Department of Interior and Local Government which found Baac guilty of conduct unbecoming of a public officer.

The DILG had also warned Baac that the commission of the same or similar acts in the future “will be dealt with more severely.”

“The conduct and behavior of all officials and employees in the public service should be circumscribed with the heavy burden of responsibility.  This is so because the image of the government is necessarily mirrored in the conduct, official or otherwise, of the men and women who work thereat,” the President’s order said.

The order also asked Baac to “adhere to the standards of morality and decency in order to preserve the government’s good name and standing for which they serve.” 

Baac “fell short of this exacting standard, had shown lack of decorum, propriety and respect in his dealings with other people,” the order added.

Tabanganay thanked the President for his decision saying it was a “long-sought ruling.”

He said the order proves that the government is treading the straight path that the President has promised.

Tabanganan earlier said he had lost hope of getting justice for what Baac did to press freedom in the country.

Meanwhile, Baac filed counter charges against Tabanganay before the Civil Service Commission. – With a report from Richard Valdez