MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte is obviously joking when he suggested to “kidnap” and “torture” officials” of the Commission on Audit (COA) as he slammed the agency’s accountability measures that hampered government work.

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

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“Masyado namang obvious na nagpapatawa lang yun regarding the COA (It’s very obvious that the President is only joking),” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“Iyang si Presidente, pareho lang kami niyan, sutil ang tawag dun which means pag ayaw mo o kinokontra mo yung ginagawa namin na sa paniniwala namin hindi naman masama o illegal eh lalo naming gagawin para asarin o inisin yung komokontra o nag krikritiko da amin,” Panelo added.

(The President and I are both stubborn, which means that if you oppose what we are doing, which we believe is not wrong or illegal, we will do it more to annoy our critics.)

“The more you criticize his style, the more he will stick to his mischief and irreverence,” the Palace official explained further.

“But at the same time PRRD (Duterte) is chiding COA not to derail ongoing government projects by certain stringent protocols that go against the letter and intent of the law,” he said. /ee

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