Christian Noveras —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MABALACAT CITY—The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) has called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to reinstate Aurora Gov. Christian Noveras in compliance with a recent Court of Appeals (CA) decision.
LPP national president and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., in a letter on Wednesday, urged DILG Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla to enforce the CA Special 12th Division ruling last Sept. 26, which ordered the immediate reinstatement of Noveras after reversing his dismissal by the Office of the Ombudsman over a graft case.
Tamayo emphasized the DILG’s action would be crucial, as the CA decision was self executory, requiring no further steps from the appellate court.
The CA nullified the Ombudsman’s Dec. 13, 2023 order that dismissed Noveras, his father, Vice Gov. Gerardo Noveras, and provincial employee Michael Tecuico from service for grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and conduct unbecoming of public officials.
The case was filed on April 27, 2022 by Narciso Amansec, a former provincial board member from Aurora’s second district, who alleged that he saw Tecuico printing campaign tarpaulins for the Noveras family inside a government-owned building at the Aurora Training Center in Baler on March 30, 2022.
At that time, the elder Noveras was the governor, and his son was the vice governor. The two switched positions and both won in the May 2022 elections.
Election violation
The Ombudsman’s ruling said the Noverases had taken advantage of their positions by using government resources to support their campaign.
Following the disqualification of the elder Noveras by the Commission on Elections on Sept. 6, 2023, due to the same tarpaulin printing issue, then Provincial Board Member Reynante Tolentino initially became vice governor.
After the dismissal of the Noverases by the Ombudsman, Tolentino was named acting governor on Feb. 7, 2024 and became governor last April 22.
However, the CA ruled that that the Ombudsman had erred in holding Christian Noveras liable for administrative charges because as vice governor in March 2022, he had no control over the provincial government’s employees or resources.
The CA also cleared the older Noveras of the grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service charges, although it upheld his suspension for one year for conduct unbecoming of a public official.
Tolentino recently said he would relinquish the gubernatorial seat to Christian Noveras once the CA’s order is implemented by the DILG or another executive agency.
In a message to the Inquirer on Thursday, Christian Noveras expressed hope for the DILG’s swift execution of the CA decision and a smooth transition at the provincial capitol in Baler.
Noveras and Tolentino are both running for governor of Aurora in next year’s midterm elections. Noveras is backed by the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas while Tolentino is the candidate of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino.