By Ben Rosario
Like the murder of a provincial resident auditor in Muslim Mindanao, the killing of Auditor Guiaria Akmad of the Commission on Audit (COA) the other day could be work-related.
House Deputy Speaker and Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman (ARMM Bureau of Public Information via Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
This developed as Deputy Speaker and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), condemned the brutal slaying of Akmad. He urged police to leave no stone unturned in determining the killers and the mastermind behind Akmad’s murder.
“My prayers are for Auditor Akmad and her family, may justice be served. The perpetrators of this dastardly murder must pay for their crime,” Hataman said.
He also urged certain quarters to avoid speculating on the death of Akmad, 55, saying that it would be best for everyone to “await for the result of proper police investigation” into the killing.
However, Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Akmad’s death had something to do with her job as auditor. “Yes, I think it is work-related. This is not the first time that this kind of incident has happened in ARMM.”
He said auditors are afraid to be assigned to ARMM for fear of being harmed for doing their job.
A former COA auditor who requested anonymity also aired the same suspicion as he urged police to determine whether or not Akmad’s job as auditor may have something to do with her slaying.
The source noted that just recently the COA-Commission Proper (COA-CP) released a final ruling on the disallowance of the disbursement of over P50 million worth of construction materials. The notice of disallowance that the COA-CP upheld was issued by the ARMM audit office in 2011.
“This and other anomalous government transactions that Akmad had uncovered may provide the clue to her murder,” he added.
Akmad, senior state auditor assigned to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was inside a car with her husband when she was shot by the passenger of a motorcycle as they were driving out of the Citymall car park along Avellina Street, Barangay Rosary Heights in Cotabato City on Friday.
The same fate befell her colleague Ester Galarosa, 54, then COA resident auditor in Basilan, who was shot to death while driving her car on a busy road in Zamboanga City on Feb. 6, 2014. Galarosa was beside a companion who, like Akmad’s husband, was not hurt in the shooting.
COA Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan condemned Galarosa’s death, saying that it was clearly work-related.
“Esther, thank you for your supreme sacrifice. The Filipino people will never forget and will forever be grateful,” Pulido-Tan wrote in a letter she sent to Galarosa's family.
A similar incident also happened outside ARMM.
On Oct. 4, 2002, Agustin Chan, provincial auditor of Ilocos Sur, and his driver, Alex Recacho, were ambushed and shot to death by heavily armed men while passing along the national highway in Bantay, Ilocos Sur.
Chan’s death was blamed on then-Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson by the civil society group Save Ilocos Sur Alliance (SISA). SISA said Chan was killed shortly after allegedly calling on Singson to liquidate some P224 million in fund disbursements.
Reacting to the accusation, Singson reportedly said: "Under the circumstances, the best and most practical way to silence him would have been to fix him with cash, not with bullets."