President Rodrigo Duterte to Cabinet Secretaries: “‘Wag mong sundin ‘yang COA”
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte told Cabinet secretaries to just follow his orders and to ignore the reports by the Commission on Audit (COA).
According to President Duterte, state auditors should stop flagging deficiencies in government projects, especially those connected to COVID-19 pandemic response.
“Stop that flagging … You make a report, do not flag. Do not publish it, because it will condemn the agency or the person that you are flagging,” President Duterte said.
President Duterte also said that state auditors should have to understand and give it a little elbow room to move as the national government has to make emergency purchases and loans.
The President even said that state auditors should be ignored since nothing happened with their reports anyway. He then told Cabinet secretaries not to follow the Commission on Audit.
“‘Wag mong sundin ‘yang COA. COA-COA, wala namang mangyari diyan. ‘Yan ang ayaw ko eh, ‘yang flagging flagging,” President Duterte said.
READ ALSO: Malacañang to Manila Mayor Isko Moreno: “We hope that he gets well soon”
Earlier in his speech, the President defended the Department of Health (DOH) after a COA report drew questions on how the agency used more than PHP 67 billion in COVID-19 funds, saying it’s impossible that the money was stolen.
He, who served as the mayor of Davao City, said that he’s familiar with the rigors of producing the paperwork for big government projects. According to the President, the “deficiencies” flagged by the Commission on Audit were merely due to lack in paperwork and it’s “impossible” to steal PHP 67.3 billion.
President Duterte also appealed to COA to let government officials finish their tasks before auditing projects so as to prevent the misconception that deficiencies in the paperwork mean that government funds were misused.
For more news and updates, you may feel free to visit this site more often. You may also visit Newspapers.ph via our official Facebook page and YouTube channel.