President Rodrigo Duterte slammed the Commission on Audit (COA) for its process of issuing audit reports on government agencies’ use of COVID-19 funds in 2020.
Duterte specifically defended the Department of Health (DOH), which the COA criticized for “deficiency” in spending more than P60 billion in pandemic funds.
“Stop that flagging, goddamn it. You make a report, do not flag. Do not publish it because it will condemn the agency or the person that you are flagging,” said Duterte.
The President said that the agencies flagged by the COA are being accused of corruption.
“‘Wag naman, sige kayo, flag nang flag, flag nang flag. Tapos wala namang napreso, wala namang lahat. And yet you know that when you flag, there is already a taint of corruption by perception. Alam ninyong emergency ito. It is a matter of life and death. You have to understand and give it a little elbow room to move,” said Duterte.
Duterte also ordered that the COA be ignored. After all, nothing is happening in its reports.
“‘Wag mong sundin yang COA. COA-COA, wala namang mangyari diyan. ‘Yan ang ayaw ko eh, ‘yang flagging flagging,” said Duterte.
Duterte defends DOH, ordering it to ignore COA reports
The COA is a constitutional body, and its power comes directly from the Constitution to maintain independence.
The COA’s response to Duterte’s statements is short.
“COA publishes the Annual and other Audit Reports only on our website for transparency purposes,” it said.
But lawmakers and various groups are defending the agency, which is mandated to scrutinize the spending of Filipinos’ funds.
“I disagree with that because we have responsibility. The Constitution says public office is public trust. So therefore clearly, everybody is responsible. Whenever we spend public funds, kailangan malaman ng taumbayan, saan ‘yan ginastos, papaano ang procedure o tama ba,” said Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.
“The president is out of line in publicly castigating the COA which is just performing its mandate and responsibility to the people and the Constitution. They should not be cowed by intimidating statements even coming from the chief executive. In fact they should proceed with more vigor, courage and independence,” said Sen. Ping Lacson.
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