Former Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner Heidi Mendoza has called out President Rodrigo Duterte for belittling the agency created by the Constitution to safeguard public coffers and encouraging local officials to ignore its anticorruption mandate. She also snapped at the President for saying, at the goading of Ilocos Norte Gov. She admitted, though, that some of the COA rules might be outdated or impractical. The President took Marcos’ side, saying: “Who’s from the COA here? Amid the President’s criticism of the COA, Malacañang said it was studying possible reforms on procurement processes in government.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 18, 2018 21:37 UTC