COA to Binay: Nothing personal

Vice President Jejomar Binay

The Commission on Audit on Thursday assured Vice President Jejomar Binay that no special task force had been created to investigate Makati City projects he implemented when he was its mayor.

Binay had complained that an ongoing COA investigation of the Makati Friendship Suites project was politically motivated and that he was specifically being targeted in a vilification drive.

The Vice President, who has been edging President Benigno Aquino in popularity surveys, blamed “insecure” camps for the smear campaign he believes is aimed at discrediting him in the run-up to the 2013 and 2016 elections.

He accused COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza of participating in a special task force’s demolition campaign launched by, he said, those who saw him as a threat to their political ambitions in 2016.

He said it was apparent the audit was part of a plan to “take him out” by December, and challenged Mendoza to explain her actions.

In a letter to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rolando Macale, director of the COA’s Public Information Office, said the COA chair, and not a commissioner, was responsible for creating special task forces.

Macalale said the complaint relating to the Makati Friendship Suites project of Binay was filed by private citizens and was referred to the auditor concerned and the Fraud Audit Office for validation and investigation.

Binay earlier said the Makati Friendship Suites project had been cleared by the COA during the previous administration. Cynthia D. Balana and Tarra Quismundo