COA blamed for delay in Reyes’ confirmation

Sen. Serge Osmeña yesterday scored the Commission on Audit (COA) for failing to submit documents needed by the Commission on Appointments for the confirmation of Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes.

The COA’s failure to comply with the CA’s request has delayed Reyes’ confirmation, according to Osmeña, who is a member of the powerful CA.

Osmeña said the CA wants Reyes to answer questions on the numerous corruption scandals rocking the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

These scandals involved a number of Reyes’ appointees — most of them generals — who were accused of having unexplained wealth, including property in the United States.

Osmeña added that he will not be "bamboozled or stampeded" into bringing Reyes’ confirmation to a vote until after Reyes has answered to all issues on the alleged corruption and plunder in the military.

He seemed irritated when asking CA Secretary Alfredo Tiu why the documents pertaining to the COA report on the AFP Modernization Fund and other important papers requested by the CA members on Nov. 23, 2004 had not yet been submitted to the CA.

Opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile expressed disappointment over the delays in the transmittal of the documents, although he said he had finished questioning Reyes.

"This is a tactic many nominees use," Osmeña said. "They release the information in trickles hoping that you will be exasperated (enough) to end your questioning. (They make excuses such as) ‘I can’t find them, he is out of the country’… Hopefully, you will forget about the issue and then you will vote to confirm."

In stressing his point, Osmeña said Reyes should be asked questions about various concerns that arose under his watch as AFP chief of staff and during his tenure as defense chief.

"Unfortunately, Secretary Reyes presided over the biggest scandals in the history of the AFP," he said. "These happened under his watch, (when) General Jacinto Ligot was comptroller – he is now before the courts owning hundreds of millions of pesos."

The opposition senator also pointed out the cases of former AFP comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia and Col. George Rabusa, who are both facing court martial and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged unexplained wealth.

Osmeña said Reyes was "either chief of staff or secretary of defense when all these happened and these are his appointees… and he’s got to answer for this… We in the CA will be remiss in our duty in checking out the fitness and competence of the nominee, and also we would be the laughingstocks of the entire country." — With Jess Diaz