MANILA – Amid allegations of corruption against his two colleagues, Jesus Dureza resigned as the presidential adviser on the peace process.
Dureza said he takes full responsibility for the supposed corruption at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process that prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to fire two officials.
“I truly am sad that OPAPP as an institution, which I head, had to suffer publicly due to the acts of a few,” Dureza wrote on Facebook Tuesday evening. “Nonetheless, I take full responsibility and apologize for all this.”
“I am voluntarily tendering my resignation to pave the way for the needed reorganization that Your Excellency may wish to undertake,” he added. “I am sad because, despite my efforts to be compliant with your strong advocacy against corruption, I failed.”
On Tuesday Duterte announced in a speech the firing of OPAPP undersecretary Ronald Flores and assistant secretary Yeshter Donn Baccay for alleged links to corruption.
The President also announced that Dureza has resigned, a decision he said he accepted with a heavy heart.
“Well, in fairness to Secretary Dureza, wala man siyang ano … Maybe because he’s the head of office. Itong dalawang nagkalat din,” Duterte said.
According to Dureza, he made up his mind about stepping down when he found out through his own investigation about the corrupt activities that some OPAPP officials were undertaking.
“After talking to some local officials whom we personally knew for some time now, I was able to validate some reports, but they declined to be officially quoted, for obvious reasons,” he said.
He added: “I installed an internal ombudsman with an outside lawyer to help validate and gather evidence due to persistent rumors about corruption.
“I even took efforts to publicly warn the public through the social and mainstream media against corruption in the implementation of PAMANA projects and requested information with assurances of confidentially of the source.”
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo heaped praises on Dureza.
He said the latter’s resignation and apology over the allegations against his subordinates “set a concrete example and put a true meaning to the value of delicadeza and morality in governance.”
“This is leadership by example,” said Panelo.
Panelo thanked Dureza for “[assisting] the President in walking the extra mile in advancing peace for the good of our nation and all Filipinos.”
Meanwhile the Palace official described the firing of Flores and Baccay as a “warning to all government officials that no person is exempted from the administration’s high and exacting standards of honesty in public service.”
“Their termination also underscores that the President remains resolute in stamping out corruption in the bureaucracy, which includes offices which are specialized in particular fields of governance,” he said.
Panelo added: “Like the war on drugs, the war on corruption must be fought unremittingly.” (With PNA/PN)
