Vice Governor Robert A. Fernandez, who along with 11 members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan were suspended by the Ombudsman for six (6) months without pay, maintains that the order was not properly served by the graft investigating body.
In his social media post on May 29, 2026, he clarified that his office has not been formally served the order by the proper implementing authorities such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“Instead, a photocopy of the document was merely handed over by the staff of the Office of the Governor to our staff at the Office of the Vice Governor,” he insisted.
Fernandez said that until the proper, legal and official service is executed by the rightful regulatory channels, the leadership of the SP remains fully active, functional, and intact.
The vice governor’s claim runs counter to what the Tribune learned from a source who has information regarding the service of the Ombudsman’s May 22 suspension order.
According to the source, three personnel from the Office of the Ombudsman, including a lawyer and a process server, arrived at the legislative building on May 28 and asked the security guard at the front desk the location of the vice governor’s office.
At Fernandez’s office, the three visitors reportedly confirmed from a staffer that they were in the right office and proceeded to serve a copy of the order.
One of the suspended PBMs as well as the staff of another colleague have also stated, in answer to a Tribune query, that staff from the governor’s office delivered xerox copies of the order to their respective staff on May 28.
There is a possibility that the Ombudsman officials went directly to the office of Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza and sought assistance in the service of the suspension order, with the governor’s staff accompanying the process server in having the document received by the concerned SP officials’ staff.
The source maintained that the return of service of the order has been reported to the Ombudsman in Manila, with proof given by the three personnel.
It was also pointed out that the May 22 Order did not state that the document would be delivered by the DILG.
The same order also states that “(a)ny delay in the disposition of the case due to respondents’ fault, negligence, petition, or causes attributable to them, shall not be counted in computing the period of suspension.”
According to the source, the Ombudsman will send a team this week to monitor the SP officials’ compliance with the order.
If the vice governor and the 11 PBMs believe that the suspension order has not been properly and legally served and they insist on performing the duties and responsibilities of their posts on Monday, June 1, 2026, they would be in a difficult legal position aside from possibly facing a complaint for usurpation of public authority and official function in violation of Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code, the source said.