Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wants state auditors “kidnapped, tortured”

Desdemona Despair

8 January 2019 (Al Jazeera News) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has advocated the kidnapping and torture of government auditors for hampering the work of his administration.

In a speech before local officials gathered in the capital, Manila, Duterte cursed at the independent constitutional body, which is responsible for examining the accounts and spending by government agencies.

“Let’s just kidnap people from COA [Commission on Audit]. Let’s bring them here, then we will torture those sons of whores,” Duterte said in an expletive-laden speech in English and Filipino.

“They always make things difficult. That’s what I don’t like, making things difficult,” he said.

For decades, government auditors in the Philippines have earned the reputation of being difficult, for closely scrutinising expenditures of all government agencies.

While they do not have powers to prosecute, evidence gathered by state auditors has been used to send public officials to jail.

Previously, Duterte had railed against the state auditors saying “they should be pushed down the stairs”, and ridiculed government regulations as “shit”. [more]

Philippines: Duterte wants state auditors ‘kidnapped, tortured’