Dureza named Palace adviser on peace process

President Arroyo has formally appointed Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco) chairman Jesus Dureza as presidential adviser on the peace process to replace Teresita "Ging" Deles, who was one of the 10 Cabinet secretaries and heads of agencies — or the so-called "Hyatt 10" — who resigned and asked the President to step down last July.

The President actually announced Dureza’s appointment in mid-December while she was attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Dureza, however, read about it only in the newspapers, saying he had not received his appointment papers.

Apparently, it was only retired Armed Forces chief Efren Abu whom the President informed about his appointment as the new Philippine envoy to the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Both Dureza and Abu were with the President in Kuala Lumpur. Dureza was the signing minister for the Philippines in the BIMP-EAGA Summit also held there last month.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced Dureza’s appointment as the new presidential adviser on the peace process in a brief statement.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process oversees the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the communist National Democratic Front.

The appointment was the third this week, after former Sandiganbayan Justice Narciso Nario was named commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government vice Alvin Dans, and Gaudencio Mendoza Jr. as the new finance undersecretary vice Emmanuel Bonoan, who resigned due to health reasons.

A Palace official said Dureza will still have oversight functions over Medco, but that the order is being drafted. — With Paolo Romero