Former Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner and 1Sambayan senior convenor Heidi Mendoza on Wednesday, August 18, said that the pandemic cannot be used as an excuse to “relax internal controls and audit” because it will lead to corruption.
She said this in a statement posted by 1Sambayan on its Facebook page after President Duterte told the state auditors to give government agencies “elbow room” in complying with documentary requirements because of the pandemic.
Duterte came to the defense of government agencies after COA flagged the Department of Health (DOH) for P67.3 billion worth of “deficiencies.”
READ: Duterte defends DOH from COA audit, says P67.3-B COVID-19 funds not missing
“When there is a high level of compliance risk, and the operating environment is permissive—may lockdown kaya relax ang internal controls at audit—conducive po to corruption lalo na parating na ang election (there’s a lockdown so let’s relax the internal controls and audit—this is conducive to corruption especially because the election is near),” she added.
Compliance risk refers to the deficiencies found in the audit findings that fall under what auditors call “risk management,” Mendoza, who served as COA head from 2011 to 2015, explained.
“Pag tumataas po ang level of compliance risks, dumadami po at tumitibay ang opportunities for corruption. Lab nga po kayo ng COA kaya inaalagaan nila ang inyong pamamahala at ginagawa nila ang trabaho nila (When the level of compliance risks goes up, there are many and stronger opportunities for corruption. COA indeed loves you because it is taking care of your governance and they are doing their job),” she said.
Mendoza stated that COA is actually gracious enough to use the term “deficiencies” on the lack of documents that made the commission question the misused and unused funds of government agencies.
She questioned if there is a reason why the government agencies cannot provide the documents that COA is asking.
“Hindi po puwedeng sabihin papeles lang at walang kwenta, may mga papeles na tinatawag nating accountability document. Kung sila po ang nawawala, kailangan pong hanapin upang alamin kung may sinasadya bang kadahilanan kung bakit hindi maibigay (You cannot say that these are just paperworks and they mean nothing, there are paperworks that are called accountability document. If they are missing, we need to know if there is a reason why they cannot provide them),” she stressed.
Duterte dismissed COA’s audit findings, saying these are just documents and paperwork. He told government agencies not to mind the state auditors and just focus on their work during the pandemic.
READ: Duterte asks Cabinet execs to ignore COA reports: 'Wala namang mangyari diyan’
Mendoza, who served during the Aquino administration, insisted that audit findings are not “cheering squad.”
“Hindi po ito cheering squad, kampihan lang at palakasan ng sigaw ang peg. ‘Yun lang kahit po sa cheering may mga judges na nagmamasid (This is not a cheering squad where the peg is who’s on your side and who can shout the loudest. Even in cheering, there are judges who will inspect),” she said.
State auditors have been flagging government agencies for billions’ worth of questionable procurements in the past year. Aside from the DOH, they also flagged the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), among others.