Razon resigns as gov’t peace adviser

By EDD K. USMAN
October 10, 2009, 7:14pm

Secretary Avelino "Sonny" Razon Jr. of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) has decided to resign effective October 12 as President Arroyo's senior peace adviser to give more time to his plans to run for mayor of Manila in the May 2010 election.

Razon will turn over on Monday the management of OPAPP to Undersecretary Nabil Tan as officer-in-charge. Tan will be the first Muslim, a Tausug from Sulu, to head OPAPP.

A press statement from OPAPP said the President has accepted Razon's resignation, who also named Tan as his successor.

There will be a simple turnover rite at OPAPP's main office at Agustin 1 Building in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

Razon was former director general of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and tapped by the President to replace Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. as OPAPP head in January this year.

Razon and Esperon, now head of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) in Malacañang, belonged to class of 1974 in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) class.

Although at OPAPP helm for a brief period, Razon took the cudgels left by his predecessor, intensifying the government’s peace efforts with rebel groups, particularly the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF)."

His persistence and commitment to the Mindanao peace process was one of the reasons the government and the MILF achieved a "major breakthrough" last September 15 with the signing of the two parties of the International Contact Group (ICG), created to enlist the help of interest countries and international non-government groups in moving the stalled peace talks.

On the government-CPP/NPA/NDF negotiations, Razon's OPAPP stint has also seen confidence-building measures adopted.

Razon's tenure also saw the creation and launching over the week of the Ambassador Manuel T. Yan’s Peace Resource Center (AMTYPRC).

Source: Manila Bulletin (http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/224128/razon-resigns-gov-t-peace-adviser)