Like kaingeros setting fire to wild vegetation in their mountainous farms, two agencies of the national government wielded its disciplinary power and gutted the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the FICELCO Board of Directors one after the other.
In the ‘massacre’ of elected officials that played out within a week, 90-day preventive suspensions were issued by the Ombudsman to the vice governor and 11 provincial board members after the graft investigation body found “strong evidence showing their guilt” with regards to the charges of grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service filed by Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza.
The orders were separately served on the officials’ respective offices by a three-man team from the Ombudsman, presumably accompanied by a staffer from the governor’s office, which probably made the suspended officials assume that the orders were not properly served.
The suspensions left the provincial board with just two regular members, with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yet to designate the vice presidents of the three ex-officio PBMs as replacements as well as the highest-ranked PBM as acting vice governor.
This means that pending the designation of the ex-officio replacement PBMs, the SP cannot officially transact business as a legislative body.
On the other hand, there was no confusion as far as the six-month preventive suspension of all seven (7) directors of the electric cooperative was concerned.
Two officials from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) made the rounds of the six directors currently on the island, with the seventh served electronically as he is abroad.
For the meantime, a Project Supervisor has been designated by the agency to supervise and manage the operations of the cooperative and perform the functions of the board for the next six months.
There would be no replacements for the suspended directors, unless the NEA Administrative Committee decides to remove six board members who voted for the flawed bid of Hector Sanchez’s company.
In this case, NEA would schedule special district elections, which would pave the way for the member-consumer-owners to choose a new set of representatives to the BOD.
A similar situation at the SP, assuming that the Ombudsman decides that the evidence against the SP 12 warrants their removal from the service, would mean that aside from the ex-officio PBM’s vice presidents in their respective leagues, the nominees of the regular PBMs’ political parties would sit until the end of their term in June 2028.
Already, there are speculations that some politicians who lost, some of them badly, in the May 12, 2025 local elections are among those shortlisted for nomination by Lakas-CMD provincial chairman and former Governor Joseph Cua and Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) provincial chairman and Virac Vice Mayor Lemual Surtida.
While majority of voters would have no problem with the likes of former Virac Mayor Samuel Laynes and other 2025 also-rans who have distinguished themselves in public service, the respective party chairpersons should not even consider those whose governance and legislative records have been tainted by corruption, negligence and other malfeasance.
It is a consolation for concerned members of the public that TGP Partylist Rep. Jose “Bong” Teves, who is reportedly drafting the list in consultation with Cua and Surtida, is also coordinating with Gov. Azanza on the ‘acceptability’ of the nominees as far as the workings of the SP is concerned.
The provincial chief executive, as well as keen watchers of the board, is justified in expressing concern about the quality of the replacement PBMs.
True, the nominees may have all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications of the position, but what the SP needs right now are people willing to work with the Capitol leadership in advancing the needs and concerns of their common constituents.
Packing the seven vacant posts with individuals whose decisions will be guided by politics, and politics alone, would be an invitation to another ‘massacre,’ this time not only by the Ombudsman but by the electorate in the 2028 elections.
The public hopes that akin to the kaingeros and their slash-and-burn farming, the topsoil seared by the fire would bring forth new, healthy plants for a bountiful harvest.