Robredo: Don’t take offense at COA reports
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo said Friday that government agencies should not take offense at reports by the Commission on Audit and should instead respond to them.
“Hindi natin dapat minamasama ‘yung mga reports na ‘to. In fact, binibigyan pa nga tayo ng opportunity na sumagot, na magpaliwanag, na maging mas transparent sa systems and processes natin,” Robredo said in a video message.
(We should not take offense at these reports. In fact, we’re given the opportunity to answer, to explain, to become more transparent in our systems and processes.)
She added, “We owe it hindi lang sa (not just to) COA, pero mas importante, sa taumbayan (but more importantly, to the people.)”
Robredo made these remarks after President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III lashed out at COA for finding “deficiencies” in the Department of Health’s spending of P67.32 billion in funds allocated for its COVID-19 response.
Duque accused COA of “wrecking” the reputation of the DOH and for not giving it enough time to respond to its report, despite having been given enough time and even an extension to submit documents.
Duterte, meanwhile, urged COA to stop publishing its reports and called on government agencies to ignore them.
But Robredo stressed that COA is just doing its job and that government agencies must in turn do their job of ensuring that their resources are being used correctly.
The Duterte administration has been under close scrutiny after a barrage of COA reports were released flagging several government agencies’ spending of its funds.
Meanwhile, Robredo has received the highest-audit rating from the COA for the third straight year. — Xave Gregorio
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