COA’s strict rules trigger President’s kidnap joke

The Commission on Audit (COA) can implement auditing protocols on government programs without derailing these vital projects, Malacañang said Thursday following President Duterte's recent joke about kidnapping and torturing its officials.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo explained the President was merely frustrated with COA's strict rules that delay government projects, adding the commission can always apply “creativity and dexterity” to implement its mandate.

"We have an action man President who is visibly irked with inefficiency and delays in the delivery of public service which can be avoided by COA’s application of strict rules liberally but not in derogation of what the law requires and still within its ambit," Panelo said.

"Auditing protocols can be observed without derailing government projects. It requires creativity and dexterity but always within the impositions required by law," he added.

The President recently expressed dismay with the COA and joked about kidnapping and torturing the state auditors. He criticized the agency for slowing down government programs with its audit circulars.

Panelo, however, said the President's latest comment was just a hyperbole to highlight his exasperation with the audit agency.

"The remarks of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte about the Commission on Audit (COA) were expressions of his exasperation and vexation against its application of stringent rules that delays government projects, made in playful jest as his usual hyperbolic style," he said.

"This irreverent side of the Chief Executive has endeared him to the overwhelming majority which catapulted him to the presidency. For him to change the very endearing ways that have struck a chord with the masses of our people just to please and appease his critics and the opposition is akin to dreaming an impossible dream."

He said Duterte would continue to be "fortnight" and issue "spicy remarks" to bring his message across.

"The President is a forthright person and the more his critics and detractors lambast him on his style and action, the more he will stick to them," he said.

"The message put across and delivered to our people by spicy remarks is lost on his detractors who don’t see anything good in what he does but certainly not to the Filipino people," he added.