House adopts reso calling for resignation of peace adviser Deles

The House of Representatives early Saturday morning adopted a resolution calling for the resignation of presidential peace process adviser Teresita 'Ging' Deles before approving the budget of her agency. The chamber also agreed to send a copy of the adopted resolution to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Sulu Rep Tupay Loong introduced the motion asking the House to adopt the resolution in view of the sentiments expressed by the members of the chamber. "We vehemently object to such treatment on a colleague who has no other intention but to contribute to the betterment of the peace process," he said. Loong was referring to the alleged high-handed attitude Deles showed towards Lanao del Norte Rep. Aliah Dimaporo. Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas seconded the motion saying the institutional integrity of the chamber has been impinged by Deles' alleged actuation. "The issue transcends whether a member that was subjected to an insult is a Christian or a Muslim or from Luzon or from Visayas or from Mindanao. I believe that the institutional integrity of the chamber has been impinged as it is a Constitutional right of any member of the chamber to be able to interpellate especially during budget deliberations," he said. "I refuse to believe that we will let this issue pass. It is a challenge to each and every member of the chamber," Gullas added. Asked for comment on the decision of the House, Deles said "if the people want me to resign, I'd be happy to." She, however, said "I serve at the pleasure of the President.' Deles, who went out of the plenary hall after the resolution calling for her resignation was approved, was accompanied by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman. They were seen talking on the telephone. Deles denied that she raised her voice while talking to Dimaporo during a meeting with other lawmakers. "Of course not. I would have never done that," Deles said. In the letter sent to House minority leader Edcel Lagman, Dimaporo said she told Deles she was speaking in behalf of Muslim legislators who wanted to question the programs and policies of OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) and the lack of importance given to cultural sensitivity. Deles allegedly responded that the problem with Muslim legislators is that they are mostly new and do not understand how the process works, while she (Deles) has been working on the peace issue for a long time. Dimaporo had earlier asked Deles during a plenary about the root causes of the insurgency in Mindanao. During the caucus, Deles allegedly chided the legislator on why she asked the question in plenary and not when the two of them met in person twice in different events outside Congress. Dimaporo noted that Deles seemed to be getting personal. “She insinuated that I was delaying the budget hearing of the Office of the President," the Sulu representative said. When the legislator reminded Deles that she was asking questions on behalf of the other Muslim lawmakers, the peace process adviser said: “Nobody was there, nobody was listening, so who was I asking the questions for?" “She also told me that even the majority and minority representatives did not understand why I was taking so long to interpellate and that the Speaker was even advised to keep his answers short so that it will end quickly," Dimaporo said. While she was asking Deles about OPAPP programs, Dimaporo recalled, the latter allegedly cut her off by saying that she wished that before the lawmaker had spoken to her, Dimaporo should “read up her background. [Deles] then told me to read her books." Dimaporo said that she felt insulted “throughout her (Deles) discourse… The things that she said, whether or not she is aware of it, were demeaning not only to me but also to Muslim colleagues in Congress." The representative said it was her first experience to be approached by a Cabinet-rank official during budget deliberations and “I had expected at least some kind of diplomacy from a Cabinet member, and much more so from the leading officer of the peace process in the country." On the other hand, the motion of Davao del Sur Marc Douglas Cagas to give OPAPP a one peso budget for 2011 remains and will be tackled "at the appropriate time." [See: Solon irked by ‘arrogant’ Deles, proposes 1-peso OPAPP budget] During the budget deliberation, Deles expressed her apologies to Dimaporo through House appropriations committee chairman Joseph Emilio Abaya who were defending the OPAPP budget. The session was suspended to allow Dimaporo and Deles to talk. Deles, accompanied by some lawmakers, was seen trying to approach Dimaporo but the latter allegedly refused to talk. Some lawmakers, including House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, talked to Dimaporo to try to resolve the matter. When the session resumed, the resolution calling for Deles' resignation was submitted to the floor. Cagas' motion to give OPAPP a one peso budget for 2011 remains and will be tackled "at the appropriate time." — LBG, GMANews.TV