Manila, Philippines — Lawmakers have called on the House committee on good government to conduct an inquiry into the P170-million fund purportedly missing from the vault of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace Process (OPAPP).
Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao (Abamin) Party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. asked Lower Chamber colleagues to look into the funds, which could be used for the continued peacekeeping efforts in the strife-torn southern Philippines.
The two brothers filed House Resolution No. 103 to investigate and to recover the missing fund from OPAPP as revealed by former presidential adviser for peace process Annabelle Abaya. “There are no records or documents showing where and how these funds were spent,” they said in the resolution.
They proposed that Abaya, Secretary Teresita Deles who assumed Abaya’s post, other individuals and entities should be invited in the investigation to “shed light and resolve the issue.”
While, Deles considered as a waste of precious time and effort to recover the funds due to lack of documentation and leads on where the funds were spent, the Rodriguezes stressed the importance of such inquiry into the matter, which is an issue of transparency in the bureaucracy.
Charisa Luci, Manila Bulletin
Subject: Solons seek inquiry into missing funds 
Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:42 am
