Gov’s assault on employee condemned by board

Kalinga Gov. Jocel Baac (left), dances with Viel Aquino-Dee, sister of President Aquino, during the 28th Foundation Day of the province in February. He can’t dance his way out of grave battery charges he faces for punching a government employee. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—A member of the provincial board of Kalinga called for the “highest degree of condemnation” of Gov. Jocel Baac for allegedly punching a government employee on Monday over a board resolution on measures being taken to save the province’s hospital from closure.

Baac allegedly lost his temper during a meeting with provincial board secretary Mathew Matbagan over the manner by which the resolution was phrased when it was transmitted to the governor’s office, according to a blotter report filed at the Tabuk City police.

The governor punched Matbagan in the face and body.

The Kalinga provincial board on Tuesday condemned the attack on Matbagan.

In a privilege speech, board member Gelacio Bongngat said Baac’s actions “deserve the highest degree of condemnation.”

In 2012, Baac served a month-long suspension imposed by Malacañang for assaulting a broadcaster inside a local radio station in June 2011.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government is investigating Monday’s incident, after a police report said the assault by Baac on Matbagan was witnessed by other government employees.

Baac did not take telephone calls and did not reply to text messages sent by the Inquirer.

The resolution which supposedly sent Baac going berserk and approved on May 5, sought to stop the closure of the Kalinga Gabriella Mija Kim Medical Center, a satellite medical facility donated in 2007 by the Medical Peace Foundation of South Korea.

Annexation of hospital

The resolution was the result of consultation with the Kalinga health board chaired by Baac. It made the medical center an annex of the Kalinga Provincial Hospital, which would shoulder its operation and maintenance expenses.

A source from the Kalinga government said Baac has begun instituting measures to rationalize the expenditures of Kalinga’s medical facilities.

The source, who asked not to be named until he gets clearance to speak to reporters, said Baac was amenable to the annexation of the medical center in Ambannawag.

Baac, however, was offended by the word “directing” in the resolution, Matbagan said.

“So I told him that it is actually the provincial hospital head who is being tasked [to undertake the conversion of the medical center] and not him,” Matbagan told the Inquirer by telephone.

Veto

He said Baac could have simply vetoed the resolution if he disagreed with its contents. “The executive-legislative departments have a harmonious relationship, so I was surprised when he attacked me as I tried to explain the way the resolution was phrased,” Matbagan said. Vincent Cabreza and Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon