‘Missing’ OPAPP funds not a priority — peace adviser

Solving the case of the allegedly missing P179 million in funds meant for rebel returnees is not high on Peace Adviser Teresita Deles’s priority list. In a press briefing in Malacañang, Deles said her predecessor at the President’s Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), Annabelle Abaya, did not provide her with documents supporting Abaya’s allegation that P179 million in funds meant for rebel returnees were unaccounted for. Abaya had told her the Office of the President was supposed to look into the matter, Deles said. “We hope, if such a case had happened, people who are liable will receive sanctions," Deles said. “But without having been given names, figures, papers to follow up, it’s difficult considering there's so much work we need to do to move the peace process forward. That, personally, is where my attention is going," she added. Deles had earlier announced that UP College of Law dean Marvic F. Leonen will be heading the government panel when it resumes its peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. (See: UP Law dean heads GRP panel in talks with MILF) She said that while she may not be running after those involved in the alleged anomaly, the OPAPP under her will be transparent in all of its transactions. Deles was also peace adviser during the early part of the previous Arroyo administration, until she and other high-ranking government officials resigned their posts at the height of the “Hello Garci" scandal in 2005. Later tagged with the name “Hyatt 10" after they announced their resignations at a press conference in a hotel function room, many of these officials, including Deles, were appointed back to government when President Aquino formed his Cabinet.—Jam L. Sisante/JV, GMANews.TV