MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent tirade and remark on the abduction and torture of Commission on Audit (COA) auditors and officials for supposedly hampering government work proves his unabashed disdain for accountability and checks and balances, Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin said on Wednesday.

READ: Duterte: Let’s just kidnap and torture COA execs

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Villarin warned that this statement could cause a chilling effect on public servants who are just doing their jobs.

“The joke will be on all of us Filipinos if we don’t call him out on this as well as his misogyny and attacks against democratic institutions,” Villarin said.

“Ah, putanginang COA yan, letse. Yung COA, every time, may mali talaga. Ano ba itong COA na ito? Mag kidnap tayo ng taga COA, lagay natin dito, torture natin dito. Tangina,” Duterte said in a speech during the Barangay Summit on Peace and Order in Pasay City on Tuesday.

[Damn COA. There’s always something wrong with it. What’s with this COA? Let’s just kidnap COA [officials] and torture them. Son of a bitch.]

“Puro yan pahirapan. Yan ang ayaw ko — ang pahirapan,” he added.

[All it does is make things difficult. That’s what I don’t want – making things difficult.]

Bayan Muna party-list chairman Neri Colmenares and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate likewise assailed Duterte’s latest tirade.

Colmenares lamented that Duterte’s statements would expose COA personnel to harm.

He added: “With his statements and actions, President Duterte is really acting like a dictator and wants all the branches of government to bow down to his wishes.”

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Zarate, meanwhile, warned that the President’s statements bolster “the climate of impunity in the country” which “emboldens state forces to further harass and violate the human rights of groups and individuals.” /gsg

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