President Rodrigo Duterte has slammed anew former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, saying she used her position to take care of the New People’s Army (NPA) by diverting conditional cash transfer funds to support the communist rebels.

The Chief Executive aired his sentiment last Friday night during the peace assembly for the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) in Cotabato.

“Judy Taguiwalo, she was only taking care of the needs of the NPA. The money for Pantawid, most of the envelopes, the money was being placed in camps,” he said, referring to the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Mr. Duterte also expressed dismay at how his concession to appoint left-leaning personalities in his Cabinet led from one failure to another.

Taguiwalo was among the left-leaning individuals the President appointed to his Cabinet after he assumed the presidency in 2016 as a gesture of goodwill to communist rebels in his effort to talk peace with them.

When the peace negotiations stalled, those in government with leftist affiliations have either been fired, rejected by the Commission on Appointments or resigned. The CA rejected Taguiwalo’s appointment in July 2017.

“It’s really very hard. We really have to have leaders with no personal agenda,” Duterte said.

The former DSWD chief, meanwhile, was quick to fire back at the President.

Taguiwalo took to Facebook to deny Mr. Duterte’s allegations and stressed that she has been “very open and transparent” during her stint as the agency’s head.