COA commissioner fails to hurdle CA anew

MANILA, Philippines - Commissioner Heidi Mendoza of the Commission on Audit (COA) again failed to hurdle the Commission on Appointments (CA) yesterday after her credibility and integrity as an auditor were questioned.

Questioning her credibility were former Makati mayor Elenita Binay, wife of Vice President Jejomar Binay, and a retired COA auditor.  

CA committee on constitutional commissions and offices chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III and the rest of the body deferred Mendoza’s confirmation after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada manifested his intention to ask her more questions.   

Absent in yesterday’s hearing, Estrada merely notified the CA through a letter.

Mendoza pleaded for the CA’s understanding for her plight, claiming she was just doing her job as a state auditor when she got the ire of a person who had ambitions to become president. 

“I keep returning here,” she said in Filipino. “Watching others get confirmed, and I really envy them. You know, I am very envious. But I know that the time will come that minds would be cleared and the truth would be opened.  Because I am not lying, I did not steal, and I have not been charged. My only sin is that I filed a case against a person with ambitions to become president.”

Mendoza made the plea after lawyers of Mrs. Binay questioned her audit findings of alleged overpricing of hospital equipment that the Makati city government had purchased in 2001.

Arturo Besana, a retired COA auditor, also questioned Mendoza’s integrity.

“Integrity means adherence to strict moral ethical code,” he said. “It is a state of being unimpaired, a soundness of mind and utterances. It is doing one’s part of the job, meeting one’s commitment.”  

Besana accused Mendoza of prematurely releasing unconfirmed findings without solid bases and announcing them in congressional hearings to gain media mileage and popularity.  

“That is not integrity, but dishonesty,” he said.  

Nancy slams Mendoza

Sen. Nancy Binay accused Mendoza of being a lackey of some personalities who are against their family, especially her father, the Vice President.

“If you trace the history, it seems that she is an attack dog for people who have ambition,” she said.

They have seen a sinister effort to destroy their family, especially since a 2003 graft case against her mother Elenita was resurrected, she added.

Nancy questioned Mendoza’s statements during the CA hearing that her findings have integrity because the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed charges against the persons who were subject of her audit reports.

“If she was competent enough, why are the cases filed being dismissed by the ombudsman?” she said.

Nancy is not a member of the CA so she did not attend the hearings. 

‘Mendoza failed to pay taxes’

Mendoza was dared to answer directly allegations that she had failed to pay P2 million in taxes. 

Joey Salgado, spokesman for Vice President Binay, made the challenge yesterday.      

“We request Commissioner Mendoza to simply answer the issues raised against her,” he said. “Appeals to the emotion will not help her case.”     

Salgado said a recent report in a broadsheet made the allegations against Mendoza. 

“She reportedly admitted this in an affidavit,” he said. “We find this very disturbing.”  – Christina Mendez, Jose Rodel Clapano