Malacañang extended its condolences and offered assistance to the family of state auditor Jake Cimafranca who died of a heart attack early this month.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after former Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Heidi Mendoza revealed in a Facebook post that her colleague in the agency recently passed away due to a heart attack.

Cimafranca was the leader of the team behind the Department of Health (DOH) audit that raised questions on how the DOH used some P67.32 billion of its coronavirus (COVID-19) funds.

In his press briefing on Thursday, August 19, Roque extended condolences to the bereaved family of the late state auditor.

"Dahil tayo po ay mga Pilipino (Because we are Filipinos), we, of course, condole with the family and friends of the late COA auditor," he said.

Roque noted the time from when Cimafranca died and when the COA report was released.

"We understand nag-heart attack po ata si Pañero ng August 4, and the COA report was released, kung hindi po ako nagkakamali, around August 16 (We understand that he, I think, had a heart attack on August 4, and the COA report was released on August 16, if I'm not mistaken)," he said.

"Nonetheless, we condole with the family and in any way we can help, please let us know," he added.

Mendoza's post about Cimafranca's death came a day after President Duterte slammed COA for flagging agencies and even told members of his Cabinet to ignore COA reports.

Meanwhile, Malacañang had explained that Duterte only wanted COA to refrain from publishing preliminary observations and asked the public to "cool down" while waiting for COA's final report.