MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed the fifth and final member of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), a few months after firing its chairman and its four commissioners for allegedly going on junkets.

• Duterte fires urban poor commission officials

Duterte appointed Melvin Mitra as PCUP commissioner, replacing Noe Indonto. In a September 2017 report, state-run PTV identified Mitra as convenor of Liga Independencia Pilipinas and quoted him as saying the Duterte administration is "the most transparent admin[istration] in Philippine history" by far.

The President last month appointed Noel Felongco as PCUP’s new chair, replacing former party-list lawmaker Terry Ridon.

• Duterte appoints new PCUP chair

Earlier appointed as PCUP commissioners were Romeo Jandugan, Randy Halasan and Norman Brillantes Baloro.

In December 2017, the President fired Ridon and commissioners Indonto, Joan Lagunda, Manuel Serra Jr., and Melissa Aradanas for supposedly going on junkets.

The PCUP was created on December 8, 1986 through then president Corazon Aquino’s Executive Order No. 82 to serve as the “direct link of the urban poor to the government in policy formulation and program implementation addressed to their needs.”

Aquino’s son, former president Benigno Aquino III issued Executive Order No. 69 on March 29, 2012, which aimed at strengthening the PCUP.