(We yield this space to the statement of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
INSTEAD of reproaching the independent state auditing body for doing its job, President Duterte should have called for an investigation on the alleged deficiencies of the Department of Health (DOH) in the use of its P67.3-billion funds for the COVID-19 pandemic response.
The Commission on Audit (COA) said “the deficiencies in the handling of the P67.3-billion pandemic response fund were caused by noncompliance with pertinent laws, rules and regulations, and undermined the timely and efficient response to the pandemic last year.”
It said “the DOH failed to utilize P59.124 billion of its 2020 budget and was unable to use as much as P11.8 billion of the COVID-19 funds, which meant that these “were not translated [into] much-needed health supplies, equipment and services that could have benefited both the health workers and the general public during the critical times of the pandemic.”
To COA’s credit, it has flagged to the taxpayers what they should rightfully know. What is appalling is not the flagging of the COA report but the reaction of the President who said on national television that COA’s report allegedly implies corruption, particularly in connection with a P67.3-billion fund for pandemic response. The President even told Duque to ignore the COA report, obviously unmindful if not oblivious, that COA is an independent constitutional body whose mandate includes publicly disclosing expenditures by state agencies.
At the start of his presidency, one of Duterte’s avowed commitments is to rid the government of corruption. He even declared that he would fire officials even with just a whiff of corruption. Why is he now muzzling the agency that guards against corruption, and shielding those who may have committed irregularities in using public funds?
What we see in all these is a colossal reek of deficiencies and mismanagement that warrant the resignation of Secretary Duque. In the best interest of the suffering Filipino people, he must resign immediately even if his “boss” tells him no to. And if the president cannot or will not rid the government agencies of corrupt officials, he must resign too!
