President Duterte's tirades against the Commission on Audit (COA) seemed to be far from over after he volunteered to audit the agency if he wins as vice president in the 2022 elections.
Duterte made the statement after the Commission on Audit (COA) cited in its report some financial deficiencies in a number of agencies under the Executive Branch.
In his pre-recorded public address that ended Friday past midnight, August 27, the President said he cannot determine who audits the country's auditors.
"Sino'ng nag-o-audit ng COA? Sino nag-aapura sa kanila? Mahirap 'yan (Who audits COA? Who comes after them? That cannot be)," he said.
"Sabihin na ikaw yung tigasilip na hindi ka na rin masilip. 'Yan ang problema diyan. (You say that you look into the agencies but the same cannot be done to you. That's the problem)," he added.
"Tell me. I've been trying to figure out in this democratic setup, sino ang mag-audit ng COA (who audits COA)? That is my question," he continued.
According to Duterte, he will volunteer to look into COA's spending if he wins as vice president in the 2022 polls.
"Somebody should do it. I will do that if I become vice president," he said.
"Ako na lang din ang mag-audit sa lahat ng gobyerno. Lahat, pati yung akin. Magsimula ako sa akin (I will do the auditing for the entire government. Everything including my office. I will start with my office)," he added.
Duterte has been hitting COA for its report that cited deficiencies in the spending, contracts and financial management of some government agencies, particularly after it flagged the Department of Health (DOH) for deficiencies in the handling of some P67 billion COVID-19 response funds.
Despite this, he said he did not want COA to stop what they are doing but asked them to reconfigure their reports to include a caveat saying that there were no funds lost due to corruption.