A STATE auditor who handled the scrutiny of expenditures of the Department of Health and Department of Information and Communication Technology, died recently due to a heart attack, a former Commission on Audit (COA) official revealed.
In a personal Facebook post, former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza said Jake Cimafranca, who was the team leader on the DOH audit report and who also worked on the DICT report, has passed away.
Cimafranca died on August 4. He was 39.
“Today I weep for my former colleague. A COA-UN auditor who just died of heart attack. He is the auditor behind DOH report. Stress can kill, please let us offer a minute of prayer!” Mendoza said in her post posted on August 17, 2:06 p.m.
“Sa Team Leader ng DOH, Jake, may the heaven open up and receive your soul together with all our prayers for the country and the institution we served ! Condolences to your family and the COA family specially the Resident Audit Team in Dept of Health,” Mendoza added.
Cimafranca’s death, which Mendoza linked to stress, happened 12 days before President Duterte called out the COA for what he deemed its premature release of its report on DOH, which auditors had given 60 days to replay to the issues raised therein. His remarks at his national televised briefing Monday (August 16) night drew reactions from several lawmakers, who reminded him COA is a constitutional body and cannot be stopped from publicly releasing its reports. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had lamented COA’s release of its report even before DOH was able to submit its replies in September.
In another Facebook post, ex-COA chief Mendoza, meanwhile, noted that “audit is life” for state auditors and Cimafranca “lived a life meant to serve many.”
“As if not enough Jake, the Team Leader of DoH is also the one behind the DICT audit report. Audit is life! And I’m sure you will be at peace because you have lived a life meant to serve many! My prayers and gratitude,” she added.
Mendoza also defended her post from bashers pointing out that she made the social media post as a “personal expression of sympathy” and not to ride on the growing spotlight on COA audit reports that revealed deficiencies in government agencies’ handling of public funds.
“This is a personal expression of sympathy, ‘wag namang akusahan na sumasakay lamang! [please don’t accuse me of riding on the issue]” Mendoza said in an edit to her first post.
Government agencies have gained the ire of the public, particularly of the netizens, after annual COA audit reports revealed various “deficiencies” in the handling of government funds, especially for the P67-billion Covid-19 funds of the DOH. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/08/12/coa-flags-deficiencies-in-doh-handling-of-%e2%82%a767-3-billion/)
Besides DOH, other well-publicized audit reports were on the DICT, the Department of Education and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which, however, clarified it had explained already to COA the issues it raised about pandemic assistance funds for workers.
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