COA, a tool for good governance

AUDITORS, particularly within the government service context, typically evoke dread. That is rightly so because their role is to check, scrutinize, and double check the spending of public funds, which we all know are more often than not subject to abuse and corruption by those in power.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has been in the limelight since last week as the Aquino administration pursues corruption cases against the previous administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as part of its bid to clean up the persistently dirty Philippine government system.

For further — meaning more significant and wide-ranging — pursuit of good, corruption-free governance, focus must also be given to local government units (LGUs) because abuses, fraud and dishonesty at the local level, smaller though they are, prove collectively bigger than those unearthed in national government.

And here again the COA plays a major role. COA reports are good sources for sanggunian bodies in their fiscalizing roles and must be used by the council as a tool for monitoring and checking for corrupt practices by either the municipal, city or provincial administration.

For honest public servants, there is nothing to fear about the COA and its auditors.

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Punches for the poor

DID Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte commit a wrong by punching a sheriff?

To Rudy Duterte, the Davao City vice mayor and Sara’s father, the answer is no. “She did it in support of the poor,” Rudy Duterte said.  “Bloodshed between the squatters and a demolition team was set to ensue and Sara stopped that. She’s a hero.”

Sheriff Abe Andres was serving the demolition order in Agdao, earning Sara’s ire as the mayor had appealed to stay the execution for two hours in a bid to defuse tension.  Andres absorbed four rapid fire hits – one in the eye – in the process effectively knocking out chaos in shantytown.

Were Sara’s a la Pacquiao shots justified? Likewise, was Sen. Panfilo Lacson justified in disappearing from public view because he got a raw deal from the courts?

Debate about the mayor’s blows till kingdom come but, surely in the end, they were Sara’s punches for the poor.  What could be nobler than that?

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