COA’s Graft Palace: Auditing Corruption While Building on It

Termites in the Treasury: How COA Built Its Doom on Dirty Deals

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — October 17, 2025

GRRR…, the Commission on Audit (COA)—the nation’s self-appointed sentinel against corruption, the watchdog that barks at every peso misspent in the bureaucracy. And yet, here we are in 2025, staring at the ultimate irony: COA’s shiny new headquarters in Quezon City, a 959-million-peso monument to accountability, erected by contractors tangled in a web of conflicts spun from the family ties of one of its own commissioners. This isn’t just a scandal; it’s a metastatic cancer eating at the institution’s soul. The very foundation of COA’s independence is crumbling under the weight of alleged graft, influence-peddling, and a blatant disregard for the laws it enforces. What a poetic betrayal—the guardians auditing the government while their own house is built on rotten beams.

The Lipana Family Syndicate: Coincidences Thicker Than Floodwater

Let’s map this sordid network, shall we? At the center sits Commissioner Mario Lipana, appointed in 2022 by former President Rodrigo Duterte, but already a senior supervising auditor for Manila back in 2021 when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) awarded the contract to the joint venture of R.U. Aquino Construction and Le Bron Construction. Le Bron, a sole proprietorship run by Moises Nicdao, isn’t just any partner—it’s the frequent bedfellow of Olympus Mining and Builders Group Phils. Corp., headed by none other than Lipana’s wife, Marilou Laurio-Lipana. Out of Olympus’s 22 DPWH contracts from 2023 to 2025, nine were joint ventures with Le Bron. What a fortunate series of coincidences for the Lipana household!

Drill deeper, and it gets richer: Nicdao, Le Bron’s managing officer, is an incorporator in Iron Ore, Gold and Vanadium Resources Inc., where Marilou is president—and alongside him is a certain Ramon Aris Lipana, relation unknown but suspiciously familial. Olympus raked in 1.89 billion pesos in DPWH projects from 2016 to 2025, mostly flood-control gigs in Bulacan. Oh, and those Bulacan projects? Riddled with admitted kickbacks and bid-rigging by former DPWH officials Henry Alcantara and Brice Ericson Hernandez.

Defenses? Please. “He wasn’t commissioner yet,” they whine. As if being a senior COA official absolves him—Lipana should have known better than anyone the stench of impropriety. Corporate separateness? Spare me; these are facades, thin veils for influence-peddling. As the Supreme Court ruled in Office of the Ombudsman v. Valeroso (G.R. No. 185728, 2014), even indirect participation in tainted contracts is sanctionable. Pimentel v. Aguirre (G.R. No. 132988, 2000) demands utmost integrity to avoid the mere appearance of evil. This web isn’t coincidence; it’s a coordinated syndicate where family ties trump public trust.

Legal Evisceration: Constitutional Knife-Twists and Graft Gut-Punches

Legally, this is a slam-dunk indictment. Start with the 1987 Constitution, Article IX-A, Section 2: No member of a constitutional commission shall have any financial interest, direct or indirect, in any contract affected by their office. Mock the notion that a spouse’s empire is “indirect” enough—Republic Act (RA) 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) explicitly extends this to spouses and relatives, prohibiting interests in businesses regulated by the official’s agency. Funa v. Villar (G.R. No. 192791, 2012) hammers it home: Spousal conflicts disqualify, period. Lipana’s failure to divest or disclose? A betrayal that mocks the Charter.

Then there’s RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). Section 3(h) nails intervening in transactions with financial interest—Lipana allegedly requested Bulacan flood-control lists and inserted 1.4 billion pesos (500 million pesos in 2023, 400 million pesos in 2024, 500 million pesos in 2025) into unprogrammed appropriations, per Alcantara’s Senate testimony and DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo’s affidavit. That’s not lobbying; that’s graft. Section 3(e) covers causing undue injury through partiality—rigged bids in Bulacan gave Olympus unwarranted benefits, while the government got ghost projects and flooded streets. And Section 3(k)? Divulging insider info to advance private gains.

Ethically? RA 6713 is a joke here: Section 4 demands upholding public interest over personal enrichment, yet Lipana’s silence allowed his wife’s firm to feast on public coffers. This isn’t oversight; it’s ethical bankruptcy.

Blame Game Bonanza: Villains, Accomplices, and the Silent Chairman

Mario Lipana is the central villain—a constitutional delinquent who must resign immediately and face impeachment for betrayal of public trust (Article XI, Section 2). His term ends in 2027, but why wait? Senator Francis Pangilinan called it impeachable; let’s make it so.

Marilou Laurio-Lipana and her corporate empire? The veil is pierced—these structures are dummies for family gain, liable under RA 3019 as co-conspirators. Olympus and Le Bron reek of fraud under RA 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act).

DPWH accomplices Alcantara, Hernandez, and Bernardo? Willing pawns in bid-rigging, facing plunder if totals hit 50 million pesos under RA 7080 (Anti-Plunder Act). They admitted kickbacks—lock them up.

And COA Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba? What exactly are you auditing if you can’t spot termites gnawing at your commissioner’s ethics? Any whiff of awareness makes him liable for neglect under RA 6713, Section 4(c). Hiding behind Ombudsman deference? Pathetic—demand internal probes now, or join the rot.

Justice’s Tortoise Paths: Ombudsman Drag and Impeachment Sledgehammer

The Office of the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan (anti-graft court) are the criminal route: Fact-finding is underway under RA 6770 (Ombudsman Act of 1989), leading to charges for graft and bribery. But skepticism abounds—these probes drag with powerful players pulling strings. Sandiganbayan has jurisdiction over Salary Grade 27 officials like Lipana; precedents like Estrada v. Sandiganbayan (G.R. No. 148560, 2001) ensure trials, but efficacy? In this archipelago of influence, justice moves like molasses.

Impeachment is the political nuclear option: House initiates, Senate tries (Article XI, Section 3). Pangilinan’s nod gives it teeth—one-third House vote to impeach, two-thirds Senate to convict. Francisco v. House of Representatives (G.R. No. 160261, 2003) sets the rules; let’s endorse complaints now. Administrative add-ons: COA internal audits for disallowances.

Purge the Rot or Perish: A Fiery Call to Torch the Termites

This epic failure exposes COA’s hollow core—a 959-million-peso HQ symbolizing not progress, but plunder. Prosecute Lipana, purge the web, from wife to DPWH stooges. Demand Cordoba’s overhaul: Spousal divestments, transparent joint ventures, zero tolerance for appearances of evil. Restore credibility or watch the institution collapse. After all, if the audit watchdog builds its den with dirty paws, who’s guarding the henhouse? Apparently, the fox in commissioner robes.