President Duterte said that he’s “pleased” to know that the COA agreed to audit the Philippine Red Cross.
President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that he’s “pleased” to know that the Commission of Audit has agreed to audit the Philippine Red Cross.
The Philippine Red Cross was chaired by Senator Richard Gordon, who has led the Senate inquiry into the government’s alleged anomalous deals with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Manila Bulletin reported that Senator Gordon had been the subject of President Duterte’s tirades in recent weeks because he has apparently been “witch-hunting” in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s inquiry into Pharmally’s multi-billion government contracts.
In his Talk to the People address aired late Monday night, President Duterte said that he’s “pleased” to learn about the prompt response of COA Chairman Michael Aguinaldo to their call to audit the Philippine Red Cross.
The President earlier reached out to Aguinaldo through Solicitor General Jose Calida.
READ ALSO: President Duterte Orders SolGen To Tell COA To Collect P140 Million From Senator Gordon
According to the President, Aguinaldo has signed a memorandum last September 23 to direct all sector heads, directors, and officers-in-charge of COA’s central and regional offices to submit “a compilation of their audit findings per sector on the subsidies and/or fund transfer received and utilized by PRC covering from a period of January 2016 to September 2021″ to its fraud office division.
President Duterte noted that Aguinaldo ordered “prompt action and compliance”.
“This is really a very welcome development. And I commend our Solicitor General for his quick, as well as, COA Chairman Aguinaldo for paving the way for the long-overdue audit of the Philippine Red Cross,” President Duterte said.
Earlier, the state auditors said that it has no jurisdiction to audit the Philippine Red Cross because it’s a non-government organization (NGO).
However, a COA circular said that it’s also authorized to audit funds released to NGOs upon the request by proper authorities.
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