Heidi Mendoza wants COA budget to be automatically appropriated

The annual budget of the Commission on Audit (COA) should be placed under automatic appropriations, former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza said.

Mendoza, who is seeking a Senate seat in the May 2025 polls, said the inclusion of the COA budget under automatic appropriations will shield state auditors from "political pressure."

“We have to shield COA from any and every political pressure. And that starts with the budget. That's why we should push for the automatic appropriation of the COA budget,” Mendoza, who has been in public service for 27 years, said during a forum with college students in Iloilo. 

“Hindi dapat gawing negosyo, negosyasyon ang pag-uusap kung magkano ba ang budget ng COA. Eh gagawa ka lang naman ng tama. May mandato kang mag-audit. Bakit kailangan pahirapan ka sa budget?,” Mendoza added. 

(The budget for COA should not be transactional or a matter of negotiation. COA is about doing what is right. It has the mandate to audit. Why make it difficult for them to audit?) 

Mendoza was appointed COA commissioner in 2011 and later nominated to serve as the undersecretary general for the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services in 2015.

Mendoza said more often than not, state auditors who are good at their jobs are the ones who end up being harassed. 

“Sasabihin, alisin mo itong auditor na to, masyado siyang mahigpit. Malakas talaga iyong political pressure. That is why my first agenda is to make sure that COA’s budget is automatically appropriated so we won’t have to line up in Congress. Bakit? Kapag pumipila kami at humihingi kami ng budget para sa COA, hindi maiiwasan na may magsasabing baguhin mo itong audit findings,” Mendoza said.

(There are times wherein people asked certain auditors to be changed because they were apparently too strict. And when we line up in Congress and ask for our budget, it cannot be helped that there are those who will ask us to change our findings.) 

“And so, I am calling on you to help me. If we want to pursue accountability to the highest level, then it starts with the independence and objectivity of the supreme audit institution. The institution is not perfect, but we need to start by shielding it from political pressure. We need to give it the resources it needs,“ Mendoza added. —Llanesca Panti/LDF, GMA Integrated News

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