CA panel defers recommending confirmation of COA exec Heidi Mendoza

(Updated 1:18 p.m.) A Commission on Appointments (CA) panel on Wednesday deferred from recommending for confirmation the appointment of Heidi Mendoza as commissioner of the Commission on Audit (COA).

 

The CA committee on constitutional commission and offices made the deferment after her appointment was opposed by at least two private individuals.

 

The oppositors were retired state auditor Arturo Besana and Mariano Sarmiento, senior counsel for the Yorac, Arroyo, Chua, Caedo, Coronel Law Office. Both alleged that Mendoza was unfit to be a COA commissioner because she is "incompetent and untruthful."

 

"I am opposing her confirmation because I believe that she is incompetent, that she is untruthful and that she is using her position for her own advantage especially in bringing herself to the good graces of [those in] power in this government," said Besana.

 

He explained that Mendoza was never a resident auditor, a director, or holder of any higher position qualifying her to be a commissioner. He also said that Mendoza likes to use her own "style" of auditing which does not follow the right process.

 

"Deviate from the audit process, you deviate from due process," he said.

 

Besana also said Mendoza, in at least one instance, lied during the investigation of the House of Representatives on the alleged financial irregularities within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

 

He even raised suspicion on the visit made by former Army Col. George Rabusa to Mendoza before.  

 

Both Mendoza and Rabusa have testified that millions of pesos were being handed out as “pabaon" or sendoff money in the military.

 

Besana was among those implicated by Rabusa in the issue. COA independence

 

For her part, Mendoza said she did not entertain Rabusa because she wanted to "preserve the independence" of COA.

 

She also said she never lied during congressional hearings.

 

Mendoza likewise said that she finds it convenient that her oppositor was among the auditors implicated by Rabusa in the alleged anomalies in the military.

 

"Rabusa filed a case against him [Besana], he has reasons to do so," she said.

 

Besana, however, said the alleged anomalies happened after he retired in 2001.

 

On the matter of being "inexperienced," Mendoza said she has been an auditor for 20 years and has filed at least 10 cases in connection with her audits.

 

"He [Besana] calls my style deviation of audit procedure, I say it is conviction," she said.

 

"If this is not competence, I don't know how it is," she added.

 

Sarmiento, for his part, raised almost the same issues as Besana.

 

But he also said that Mendoza allegedly engaged in propaganda.

 

He specifically cited a case before the Sandiganbayan where Mendoza was a witness and his firm was the defendant, during which there was reportedly media coverage during her testimony but not during cross examination.

 

"We found it rather strange," he said.

 

The CA committee decided to study the testimonies first before making any recommendation.

 

But the same CA panel recommended for confirmation the appointment of Robert Martinez as commissioner of the Civil Service Commission earlier in the day. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News