Frustration over stringent rules sparked Duterte’s tirade vs COA – Palace

MANILA, Philippines —President Rodrigo Duterte is merely expressing his ‘exasperation and vexation’ against the Commission on Audit’s (COA) stiff rules which delayed some government projects when he suggested to kidnap and torture state auditors, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Thursday.

“The remarks of President Rodrigo 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,” Panelo said.

Panelo earlier claimed that Duterte’s threat against state auditors were obviously a joke made to slam the agency’s accountability measures that hampered government work.

READ: Palace on Duterte’s COA threat: ‘He is obviously joking

Two days ago, the President criticized the COA for slowing down the bureaucracy with its audit circulars, which he said would result in his orders not being carried out.

Duterte’s threat did not sit well to some lawmakers, who claimed that the President’s threat may have a chilling effect on public servants who are just doing their jobs.

READ: Lawmakers slam Duterte’s dire remark vs state auditors

Panelo, however, said this irreverent side of Duterte has endeared him to the public which catapulted him to the Presidency.

He also said that “the more his critics and detractors lambast him on his style and action, the more he will stick to them.”

Panelo further noted that auditing protocols can be observed “without derailing government projects.”

“It requires creativity and dexterity but always within the impositions required by law,” he added. /gsg