CoA 2023 AAR, best ever (7)

The President can achieve his mandate with speed with the people and military supporting him.

This means that when the military is needed, the 1987 Constitution empowers it to do so.

The Philippines, though still a relatively young republic, on some occasions almost went to this extreme in the recent past with the Commission on Audit (CoA) as an ugly dysfunctional participant.

The norm of independence, impartiality, and objectivity of government officials and employees is a universal ethical rule observed by all people working in government in all continents of the world.

But in the Philippines between 2011 and 2021, no less than Heidi Mendoza, Grace Pulido Tan of the constitutional CoA completely and publicly disregarded these norms of fairness and justice.

An allegedly independent auditor’s report on the Department of Health’s accounts and financial operations was ingeniously crafted by a state auditor, a colleague of Heidi Mendoza’s, and released prematurely to serve as an incendiary fuse to rouse strife and anger between CoA chiefs allied with the senators of the Republic of the Philippines against President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque.

On CoA’s and the senators’ side were Heidi Mendoza, Grace Pulido Tan, and Michael Aguinaldo allied with Senators Franklin Drilon, Richard Gordon, Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros and Kiko Pangilinan.

Words and deeds were enough to establish culpability for conspiracy by the CoA chiefs and the senators of the republic to destabilize the Duterte administration, to say the least, and to incite the people to sedition, at most.

It was at this time that Carmen N. Pedrosa, a columnist, released a portion of a letter signed by the AFP Chief of Staff and the major service commanders.

Let me quote the AFP major commander’s letter to PRRD: “...recent events have placed us in a quandary as those who, like us, are pledged to abide by the Constitution have beyond doubt been the ones habitually undermining and making a mockery of it even while hiding behind it escaped prosecution.”

Given the entrenched positions of officials of the Aquino administration, it will be impossible for the President to assume the extraordinary powers he needs. The most serious stumbling block is Congress and the previous government’s subalterns in the bureaucracy.

In the same period, there were reports of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison’s call for the youth to hold protests against the looming dictatorship under President Duterte.

“We don’t attach too much importance to Joma Sison. I hope he has enough grandchildren to heed his call,” a Palace spokesperson said during a news conference.

This report was followed by a Palace spokesperson reacting to Napoles’ statements made during an interview with broadcaster Erwin Tulfo aired live over government-run dzRB radio station.

In a text message, the Palace spokesperson said Drilon was not exempted from investigation over allegations of corruption.

“Leave it to the DoJ (Department of Justice) but there should be an investigation,” the Palace spokesman said when asked about Napoles’s allegation that she was referring to Drilon.

The 1987 Constitution states in Article II of the principles and state policies in Section 3 that: “Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.”

It is time that the President takes action realizing that “he is no match against the very system he wants to change while working within it. This is a dilemma that he has to face now or he and the reforms will come to naught.”

“Except for a few, their level of managerial sophistication has not matched the exigencies of their office.” (To be continued)