Ex-gov't corporate counsel calls Duterte fool for urging COA to audit Red Cross

Former government corporate counsel Rudolf Philip Jurado on Friday called President Rodrigo Duterte a fool for demanding state auditors to audit the funds of Philippine Red Cross (PRC) which is a non-government entity.

"You are a fool, Mr. President. You are a lawyer and you should know that COA (Commission on Audit) cannot and has no power to audit Red Cross," Jurado said in a Facebook post.

He was reacting to Duterte's statement Thursday night, accusing Senator Richard Gordon of using Red Cross as a milking cow for election campaign and that the COA should audit the humanitarian organization.

PRC is chaired by Gordon, chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee which is probing the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies bought from small firm Pharmally.

During a budget briefing at the House of Representatives, COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo said they have no jurisdiction to audit Red Cross.

Article 9 of the Philippine Constitution provides that COA “has the power, authority, and duty to examine, audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property, owned or held in trust by, or pertaining to, the Government, or any of its subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities."

Jurado was fired by the President in May 2018 over alleged issuance of legal opinion justifying 75-year gaming franchise to a freeport locator in Aurora.

Duterte criticized Jurado's supposed legal opinion that the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (APECO) can issue online gambling permits outside its territorial jurisdiction.

"When you are granted a franchise to conduct gambling in a certain facility, it does not include farming out that franchise to other cities and provinces," the President said.—AOL, GMA News