Duterte wants to put OPAPP under military control – Sison

LUCENA CITY – For exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, there were other issues surrounding the resignation of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza.

“The real issue may not be corruption but Duterte trying to put OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) under military control, occupation, and corruption,” he said in an online interview from his base in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Sison alleged that “there is far more corruption in the Office of the President (OP)” than in OPAPP which is also under the OP.

“There is a lot of leeway for corruption in OPAPP because of the arbitrariness in selecting beneficiaries and fabricating beneficiaries,” he said.

Sison added: “Same arbitrariness as in Duterte’s using of intelligence and discretionary funds for bribing military and police officers to kill people and for privately pocketing a lot more of such public funds which are not subject to detailed accounting by the Commission on Audit.”

On Tuesday, Dureza tendered his voluntary resignation from his post following allegations of corruption against two officials from his office.