Order to suspend Yap as Bohol governor for 90 days handed over

TAGBILARAN CITY—The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday, Nov. 19,  served an order on Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap suspending him for 90 days for alleged involvement in a scam involving pork barrel, or the now notorious Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The order was received for Yap by his provincial administrator, Kathyrin Pioquinto, past 3 p.m. Copies were furnished the provincial government’s human resources office and the office of the Vice Governor, who would take over in Yap’s absence.

Rene Relampagos, vice governor, would be acting governor.

Yap has been charged at the Ombudsman with misusing the pork funds of Misamis Occidental Rep. Marina Clarete when Yap was still agriculture secretary under then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Yap issued a statement denying the charge that he helped Clarete misuse her pork barrel funds through projects in the Department of Agriculture that either involved overpriced fertilizers or were simply nonexistent.

Yap pointed to a manifestation filed by the Office of Solicitor General at the Supreme Court as part of his denial. He said the OSG manifestation stated that there was no evidence of Yap’s involvement in anomalous transactions involving Clarete’s pork barrel funds.

In a radio interview, Yap said the OSG had asked the Supreme Court to stop the Ombudsman from further prosecuting him and nullify the anti-graft body’s resolution suspending Yap for pork anomalies.

The suspension order did not come as a surprise for Yap, though, but said it was not a punishment or a ruling of guilt.

Preventive suspension, Yap said, “is not a determination of the merits of the case.”

“Under the law, the imposition is not discretionary but mandatory in nature,” the governor said./Edited by TSB