MANILA, Philippines – If President Rodrigo Duterte is increasingly angry at state auditors, it means they are doing their jobs well, a former top government auditor said on Wednesday, January 9.

“Ang pag-aawdit ay parang artistang kontrabida sa pelikula. Kung maraming nagagalit sa iyo, ibig sabihin ay epektibo at makatotohanan ang iyong pagganap,” said former Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner Heidi Mendoza in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

(Auditing is like playing a villain in a movie. If people get angry with you, it means you have effectively and truthfully played your role.)

Mendoza was reacting to a speech Duterte made the night before, saying at a peace and order forum with local officials: “Ah putang ina ‘yang COA na ‘yan. Letse kasi ‘yung COA, every time may mali talaga. Ano ba naman itong COA na ito? Kung mag-kidnap tayo ng taga-COA, lagay natin, i-torture natin dito, ‘tang ina.”

(Those sons of bitches in COA. That COA, every time, there’s always something wrong. What’s up with this COA? What if we kidnap someone from COA, we torture them here? Sons of bitches.)

This is not the first time Duterte ranted against COA. In September 2018, the President said auditors should be pushed down the stairs.

COA Chairman Michael Aguinaldo reacted to that statement lightly, saying, “Sinabi ko sa auditors umiwas na lang sa hagdanan (I told our auditors to just avoid the stairs).” He evaded further questions.

COA’s Public Information Office told reporters on Wednesday that they have “no comment” on Duterte’s latest rant.

Mendoza, who rose to prominence first in 2011 to expose corruption in the military and again in 2012 to testify in Senate investigations into alleged anomalies in Makati City under the Binays, has always stood up for her former commission.

She is now an undersecretary general for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight.

“Malinaw naman siguro ang papel na ginagampanan ng mga awditor. Kailan man ay hindi namin gustong manghimasok, magpabagal ng takbo ng transaksyon, at lalong hindi upang makagawa ng oportunidad upang kumita,” Mendoza said.

(It’s clear what roles auditors play. We never want to meddle, to slow down transactions, and especially not to create opportunities to enrich ourselves at the expense of taxpayers.)

Duterte had ranted that auditors make lives of public officials difficult.

Duterte and COA

The year 2017 was Duterte’s first full audit year, and it exposed some of the biggest scandals in his administration, most notably the alleged anomalies inside the Department of Tourism which forced Wanda Teo to resign as secretary. (READ: 6 times COA reported on key Duterte concerns, advocacies)

COA also revealed that Duterte’s spending rose by 500%, bulk of which was due to a ballooned intelligence fund.

Mendoza said auditors merely want to make sure that public money is spent wisely.

“Ang aming papel ay magbigay ng pagkakataon na maituwid, mapaganda, maiayos ang takbo ng paggamit ng pera ng bayan sa paraang may pananagutan at bukas sa pagpuna ng bawat mamamayan o lahat ng may pakialam,” she said.

(Our role is to provide opportunities to correct and improve the way we spend taxpayers’ money, in a way that there is accountability and openness to feedback from each Filipino or everyone who has a stake.) – Rappler.com