• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz II and Executive Assistant II Chery Sheil Valenzuela both returned to work at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City yesterday.
This was after the Department of Interior and Local Government ordered Diaz to return his post as Negros Occidental provincial government administrator, and Valenzuela to report to her work, after receiving copies of the Ombudsman decision to reduce their suspensions of six months to one month.
Diaz and Valenzuela started serving their suspensions on June 8, which means their one month suspension should have ended in July.
Upon receiving the copy of the order issued by the DILG, Diaz said he immediately informed Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who ordered him to report to his office immediately.
While serving his suspension, Diaz was temporarily replaced by Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Alberto Nellas Jr., who served as officer-in-charge of the Provincial Administrator’s Office.
“I have properly turned over all the work to the officer in charge when I stepped down last June. I’m here to support the provincial government employees so they can focus on their work to serve the people of the province,” Diaz added.
He also thanked the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees (PACE) for supporting his return to the Capitol.
DILG Region 6 director Juan Jovian Engeniero, in a memorandum dated Sept. 17, cited the August 21 order approved by the Office of the Ombudsman, reducing the penalty meted on Diaz and Valenzuela for the private practice of law that was in “conflict” with their jobs.*
