DILG dismisses Camarines Norte Governor Edgardo Tallado

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – Camarines Norte Governor Edgardo Tallado has been dismissed from office for grave misconduct effective Wednesday, March 14, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Bicol said.

Eloisa Pastor, DILG regional director, said on Thursday, March 15, that she and her legal officer, Zalman Uddin, served the dismissal order of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon on Tallado at 5 pm on Wednesday, and installed , and replaced by Vice Governor Jonah Pimentel as the new governor shortly after.

“Governor Tallado did not resist and received the dismissal order from the Office of the Ombudsman calmly in his office. Pimentel, who happened to be in his office for a meeting, was immediately installed and succeeded the post vacated by governor Tallado,” Pastor said.

Senior Provincial Board Member Michael Canlas assumed as vice governor.

Pastor said after her office received the dismissal order from the DILG central office at 10 am on Wednesday, she and Uddin headed to Daet in Camarines Norte to serve the order.

She said Tallado can still file an appeal before the Court of Appeals within 15 days of receipt of the dismissal order.

The Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon issued the dismissal order on January 10 which was based on a complaint of former provincial veterinarian Edgardo Gonzales.

The complaint stemmed from Tallado’s decision to sack Gonzales in 2012, and then assign the veterinarian as a public information officer, a position the governor supposedly created for him.

In its January order, the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon said Tallado was liable for “grave misconduct,”which is punishable by dismissal from office, when he immediately reassumed his functions as governor even when he was still supposed to be serving a suspension order.

Tallado was also earlier found guilty of grave misconduct, and oppression and/or abuse of authority with aggravating circumstances of recidivism following his decision to invalidate the appointments of 48 provincial government employees, including those appointed to various positions on permanent status by then Governor Jesus “Atoy” Typoco.

The complaint was initially filed before the Civil Service Commission as early as November 30, 2010, but the CSC dismissed it, prompting the petitioners to elevate the case to the Court of Appeals (CA).

The complaint was eventually filed with the Ombudsman on November 3, 2015.

Gonzales’ case led to a one-year suspension on Tallado on October 27, 2015, but the governor filed a petition for review before the CA, which reduced the penalty to 6 months’ suspension on May 12, 2016, after which Tallado immediately reassumed office.

Gonzales had argued that Tallado reassumed his post when the CA ruling was not yet final and executory, and that the CA eventually restored the one-year suspension imposed by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman.

Tallado was meted the penalty of dismissal from service with cancellation of eligibility, bar from taking any civil service examination, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual disqualification for re-employment in the government service.  – Rappler.com