Checks and balance

President Duterte has accepted the PDP-Laban's nomination as its vice presidential candidate in the upcoming elections. How many times have we heard Duterte say he is tired, wants to resign, will step down, has no interest in power and whatever (all these can be searched on the internet), but wait, he is running in 2022. And the first thing he would do if elected is to audit Commission on Audit (COA).

It is clear Duterte is getting back at COA for all the reports regarding deficiencies in documents of various government agencies and questionable purchases and utilization of government funds under his administration, which is COA's mandate. He has ordered his Cabinet to ignore the COA altogether. The Senate is also investigating the government's expensive purchase of anti-COVID-19 supplies from a company with a fake office address. Pharmally Phamaceuticals Inc. won a P8.7 billion contract with only a capital of P625,000. Incredible. The Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) did not even verify where the office of this company was. How did they negotiate with this company? Where were the documents sent if the office address is fake?

The meeting of former controversial "economic adviser" Michael Yang and Pharmally officials with Duterte in 2017 is now being recalled. There was no pandemic at that time but what was the meeting all about? When the pandemic struck, it was Pharmally's chance to make huge profits. The senators wanted to know who the backer of this company was and how they won the big contract. The senators are focusing their attention on former PS-DBM chief and Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao who has a lot of explaining to do. Michael Yang, one accused of being in the illegal drugs trade, has no longer been "advising" the president since 2018. The seeds had been planted by then.

Because the Senate is now investigating, Duterte comes out with a statement saying these Senate investigations amount to nothing and the senators are merely posturing. This is how the administration wants to operate. Only the Palace has absolute power. The Senate is useless, the Congress is useless, the Supreme Court, the COA, the CHR are all useless unless they abide by Duterte's orders and wishes. It is only right the Senate and the COA uphold their duty according to the Constitution. It was only right to push back, object to Duterte's statement. We cannot have a government where no one should ask questions, no one should investigate, no one should audit. The whole idea of checks and balance in government reside in these.