President Rodrigo Duterte slammed anew the Commission on Audit (COA) on Tuesday, January 8, saying in jest that some state auditors should be kidnapped and tortured.
Duterte said this in a speech during the Barangay Summit on Peace and Order held at Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
“Ah p***** i** ‘yang COA na ‘yan, l****. Kasi ‘yang COA every time may mali talaga. Ano ba itong COA na ito? So mag-kidnap tayo ng taga-COA ilagay natin, i-torture natin dito (That COA, son of a b*tch. There is always something wrong about COA. What is up with this COA? What if we kidnap some COA personnel, put them here and torture them)?” Duterte said.
According to Section D of Article IX of the 1987 Constitution, one of the principal duties of the COA is to “examine, audit and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property owned or held in trust by, or pertaining to, the government.”
It also has the power to promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations to prevent “irregular, unnecessary, extravagant or unconscionable” use of government funds and properties.
Despite the COA making sure that local government officials are not pocketing the public funds, Duterte, however, railed against the state auditors for ‘not making things easy’ for them.
“Pero ‘yang ano pahirapan? Iyang — ang ayaw ko ‘yang pahirapan. (But making things difficult? That — that is what I do not like, they make things hard). You resolve the meaning of the words in favor of its implementation. Huwag ka sige maglagay diyan ng hadlang (Do not just put stumbling blocks there),” he said.
It was last September, during a situation briefing on the effects of Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) in Ilocos Norte, when Duterte slammed the state auditors for prohibiting some government spending especially in times of calamity.
“Sinong taga-COA dito? Ihulog mo na sa hagdan para ‘di mag-report (Who is from COA here? Push him down the stairs so that he won’t be able to report),” Duterte had said.
He then belittled the COA’s circulars, saying, “Maniwala ka diyan [sa] COA na ‘yan (As if you should believe COA). You know, they just do it by circular and they expect everybody to obey. Circular, anong pakialam ko (why would I care about it)?”
Duterte was prompted to say this after Ilocos Norte Governor Maria Imelda “Imee” Marcos complained that the COA only allowed them to request cash advances for food of the disaster victims which is only up to P15,000.
Former COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza had called on Duterte for belittling the commission, stressing that the President should give them the “respect” that they deserve.
“We are a constitutional Commission and not one of the past Honorable Presidents of our land, has called on another institution subject under our authority to defy our rules,” Mendoza previously said.
But former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr., during his stint as spokesman came to the defense of Duterte, stressing that the latter only wants to give quick assistance to the typhoon victims when he told the local officials to ignore the COA’s regulations.
“Ang konteksto po niyan eh madaming limitasyon pagdating sa delivery ng (The context is that there are a lot of limitations in the delivery of) humanitarian assistance in times of crisis,” Roque earlier said.
“So ang sinasabi ng Presidente, considering post-audit naman ang COA, hayaan na munang ibigay ang pangangailangan ng taumbayan, tsaka na muna addressin ‘yang mga sinasabing nakapadaming requirements ng COA (What the President was saying is that, since the COA conducts post-audits, it should just allow first the local government to provide the needs of our countrymen before addressing the many requirements of the COA),” he added.