By JEN BAYLON

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson appointed Provincial Legal Office (PLO) head Alberto Nellas, Jr. as acting provincial administrator following the suspension of Rayfrando Diaz II by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Lacson said the appointment takes effect immediately, as Nellas will take on dual roles as provincial administrator and PLO head.

Meanwhile, Lacson said Diaz would render voluntary suspension without the need of an order from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“I’m hoping [that the case] will be reversed, but Atty. Diaz asked permission to serve the six-month suspension,” Lacson said.

Earlier, the Ombudsman issued a six-month preventive suspension order against Diaz and Executive Assistant Chery Sheil Valenzuela, citing a “conflict of interest” in their private practices.

The suspension order prohibits the two officials from engaging in any business transactions or receiving any salary from the government.

The Ombudsman said Diaz and Valenzuela, serving as counsels for JLL Agriculture and Development, one of the defendants in an expropriation case filed by the Binalbagan municipal government, failed to provide legal assistance to the local government unit.

They committed serious dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, and gross neglect of duty, it added.

Diaz and Valenzuela filed their motion for reconsideration of the suspension./JB, WDJ