COA’s Mendoza dares Baligod to file complaint

Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza on Friday challenged lawyer Levito Baligod to bring a complaint in the Commission on Audit (COA) against the former state auditors he implicated in the new pork barrel case he filed in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mendoza said Baligod should file a complaint so the COA could investigate the state auditors he accused of involvement in the misuse of P500 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations of 20 former and incumbent lawmakers.

READ: 4 COA execs tied to scam

Speaking to reporters, Mendoza said she did not know who were the state auditors implicated in the new pork barrel case.

“If we are ready to accuse, we need to have evidence,” she said.

The former state auditors implicated by Baligod in the new pork barrel scam case were Juanito Espino Jr., Tito Nabua, Carmelita Sanchez and Herminia Aquino.

Mendoza said 70 state auditors implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly orchestrated by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles were under investigation.

Administrative charges have been brought against three of the auditors, she said.

“We’re protecting the integrity of the institution,” Mendoza said.

COA Chair Michael Aguinaldo and Commissioner Jose Fabia were not available for comment.

The COA public information office said it did not have the telephone numbers of Espino and Nabua, both of whom retired in 2013. It said it had received reports that Aquino died earlier this year, but did not know exactly when. It had no information about Sanchez.

According to a profile posted online, Espino’s term ended in February 2013. He was appointed in 2006, the youngest commissioner to be named at age 54.

Espino joined the COA in 1978 as chief of the auditing systems division and rose from the ranks to become director of major sectors in the central and regional offices.

He eventually became assistant commissioner, the highest career position in the COA.