Ombudsman: Binay pressuring COA to delay audit report release until after polls

The Office of the Ombudsman came out with guns blazing after the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay accused it of allegedly pressuring the Commission on Audit (COA) to release an “incomplete special audit report” on the Makati City Hall Building 2.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said that the claim made by the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) is “a lie.”

READ: Ombudsman pressuring COA on Binay—UNA

Morales, citing a “very reliable source,” said that it was Binay who pleaded to a COA official to delay the release of the audit report until after the elections.

“The press release from UNA is a lie. It was the COA that advised the Office of the Ombudsman months ago that the report was ready and that a copy will be transmitted to the Office by the end of January 2016,” the statement said.

After the COA failed to transmit the report in January, the auditing agency said that they will transmit a copy on February 22.

“Failing that as well, they again advised (that) they will transmit it on March 2,” the Ombudsman said.

In a campaign sortie in Pampanga on Sunday, Binay spokesperson Atty. Rico Quicho dismissed the statement made by the Ombudsman as a “diversionary tactic.”

He said that the being in the opposition, Binay has no power to pressure the Ombudsman or any other government agency.

Quicho challenged the Ombudsman to refute the allegations that it is colluding with the administration to pressure Binay to bow out from the presidential race.

“Ito’y malinaw na diversionary tactic ng Office of the Ombudsman. Ang hindi ho nila sinasagot ay ‘yung mga oppressive moves na ginagawa nila laban kay Vice President Binay. Alam ninyo po, hindi po totoo ‘yung sinsabi ng Ombudsman na mayroon daw ho tayong kinakausap sa Commission on Audit,” he told reporters.

(This is a clear diversionary tactic of the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is not answering the oppressive moves that it is doing against Vice President Binay. You know, what the Ombudsman said about our camp talking to someone from the Commission on Audit is false.)

He also said that the vice president is willing to face the charges against him, even those supposedly hinged on lies.

“Hindi naman po tayo natatakot sapagkat paulit-ulit po nating sinasabi, mga kababayan, sasagutin po natin at haharapin natin lahat ng mga bintang. Kahit ito po ay puro kasinungalingan ay haharapin po natin,” Quicho said.

(We are not afraid [of the release of the audit report] because we have repeatedly said that we will answer all the allegations, even those which are hinged on lies.)