COA chair: PRC not under our audit jurisdiction

The Commission on Audit (COA) does not have jurisdiction over the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), according to COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo.

Aguinaldo clarified that COA can only audit government accounts, funds, and properties, not non-government organizations like the PRC.

This statement comes after President Rodrigo Duterte demanded a COA audit of the PRC, accusing its chairman, Senator Richard Gordon, of using the organization as a "milking cow."

Former government corporate counsel Rudolf Philip Jurado also called Duterte a "fool" for demanding an audit of the PRC, emphasizing that COA has no power to audit non-government entities.

The Philippine Constitution states that COA has the authority to examine and audit accounts pertaining to the revenue and expenditures of the Government and its instrumentalities.