Palace condoles with kin of COA auditor behind DOH report

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday expressed its condolences to the Comission on Audit (COA) auditor who worked on the Department of Health (DOH) report and recently died of heart attack.

Former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza said lawyer Jake Cimafranca died of heart attack, possibly due to stress brought about by his work in the agency.

“Dahil tayo ay mga Pilipino (Because we are Filipinos), we, of course, condole with the family and friends of the late COA auditor,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

“We understand na na-heart attack ata si compañero ng August 4 and the COA report was released, kung hindi ako nagkakamali, around August 16 but nonetheless we condole with the family and in any way that we can help, please let us know,” he added.

The COA report on the DOH was catapulted to limelight when it flagged deficiencies on the management of P67.3-billion worth of funds for the government’s COVID-19 response.

This prompted both chambers of Congress to conduct inquiries to get to the bottom of the issue.

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