A GROUP of faculty and staff from the University of the Philippines decried President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent statements on the Commission on Audit’s findings on the possible misuse of government funds.

The Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy said the President’s statements are “criminal negligence at its worst.”

All-UP Academic Employees Union President Melania Flores defended CoA, saying it is only doing its function as a constitutional commission.

“What is he even talking about? The COA is only doing its job especially amid this government’s criminal negligence in handling the worst health and economic crisis to ever hit the country,” Flores said.

She added that the deficiencies found by CoA would have been more than enough to cover the P11.8 billion budget cut from the higher education sector and the P456 million slashed from the Philippine General Hospital in 2020.

“While we the people bear the brunt of repeated lockdowns, loss of livelihood, and lack of adequate healthcare services, we see the Duterte government displaying utter incompetence and lack of urgency in addressing the people’s needs,” she said.

“This is a brazen coverup,” she added.

Duterte slammed the COA findings on the Department of Health’s pandemic response budget, with reported deficiencies amounting to around P67.3 billion.

“Stop that flagging, goddamnit! Do not flag and do not publish it because it will condemn the agency or the person that you are flagging.” Duterte said.