NATIONAL Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Liza Maza announced on Monday, August 20, her "irrevocable resignation" from her post.
Maza's resignation came a week after a Nueva Ecija court dismissed the murder cases filed against her, former Agrarian Reform secretary Rafael Mariano, and former Bayan Muna representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño.
Maza and Mariano were among the nominees of the communists' political wing, the National Democratic Front, to the Duterte administration.
In a statement, Maza cited the "attacks by the anti-reform, rightist, and militarist forces" as a reason to give up her position as head of the government's anti-poverty commission.
"While the fabricated and baseless murder charges were eventually dismissed, as it should have been, and which I hailed as a triumph of truth and justice, the revival of these cases and the issuance of warrants of arrest did take its toll on the work that I was pursuing at the NAPC," the Left-leaning leader said.
"I realized that similar attacks by the anti-reform, rightist, and militarist forces in our society will continue to undermine my leadership of this agency. As such I simply can no longer work under these circumstances," she added.
Maza also noted that the moribund peace talks between the Duterte administration and the communist party prompted her to resign as NAPC chair.
During her two-year stint at the NAPC, she said she had "high hopes" that socioeconomic and political reforms would be possible when President Rodrigo Duterte had initially engaged in the peace negotiations with the communists.
She, however, stressed that such reforms "may no longer happen" following the cancellation of peace dialogue.
"In any case, genuine change cannot happen when the old forces of fascism and corruption, and the defenders of elite and foreign interests, are consolidating their position in government," Maza said.
"As such, I have found its best to resume fighting from among the masses for this genuine change, which, as ever, has been the only real way to make sure that it will happen," she added.
Malacañang was saddened by Maza's decision to leave the Duterte government.
In a press conference, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the government wished Maza "the best" in her new endeavor.
"We thank Secretary Liza Maza for her invaluable services to the government for the past two years... We regret her departure and we wish her the best," Roque said.
"You know, she had the trust and confidence of the President, and she resigned. We always regret when people who enjoy the trust and confidence of the President leave their post," he added.
Responding to Maza's remark, Roque also reiterated that Duterte would only revive the talks with the communists if they heed to the President's preconditions.
He added that negotiations with communist insurgents would also continue "but on a local level."
"I don't know really why she had to connect the peace talks with her work in the National Anti-Poverty Commission," he said.
"Again, we maintain that the President will only have peace talks with the communists, if it is in the Philippines, if they will stop collection of revolutionary taxes, if they will momentarily -- while peace talks are ongoing -- commit themselves to refrain from resuming the insurgency and will stay in a designated camp," he added. (SunStar Philippines)