Duterte calls on local execs to defy 'stupid' COA circulars

President Rodrigo Duterte has called on local officials to defy "stupid" Commission on Audit circulars, even going as far as telling Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos to push a COA employee down the stairs.

Duterte made the remark after Marcos claimed, at a post-typhoon briefing in Ilocos Norte, that COA does not allow cash advances for the purchase of building materials such as GI sheets.

Duterte led a situation briefing at the Provincial Capitol in Laoag, Ilocos Norte on Sunday evening in the wake of typhoon Ompong 

"Yung cash advance, for food lang. 'Di puedeng cash advance for these things,” Marcos said.

But Duterte told Marcos, “Ihulog mo sa hagdanan.” Cheering Duterte on, Marcos said, "Yes, yes, yes." 

The President went on to say that COA has not contributed to national development and that its circulars that cover government transactions are meaningless because it is not a law.

“'Yang circular na 'yan, pakialam ko diyan. Make it a law. I don't give a shit on a circular,” Duterte said.

The budget for emergency shelters, however, is not unfunded.

Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Virginia Orogo said in the same briefing that the DSWD has earmarked P30,000 cash assistance for each family with totally damaged house and P10,000 for each family with partially damaged house.

However, a further search shows that the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of COA circulars as well as its notice of disallowance and findings in multiple rulings. —Llanesca T. Panti/LBG, GMA News