Heidi Mendoza: Audit

Assigned to the Office of the Ombudsman under Simeon Marcelo to help in investigating the unexplained wealthof then AFP comptroller General Carlos Garcia, Heide Mendoza headed a team of 11 auditors from the Commission on Audit (COA) that traced the paper trail of graft and corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

But when ombudsman Simeon Marcelo resigned in 2005 because of ill-health, COA chief Guillermo Carague told Heide to abandon the case, and that no need of a report on their findings to be made as COA was not interested of it.

During the justice committee  hearing at the House of Representatives in February 2011, Heidi disclosed that she had a strong case against Garcia, accused of amassing P300 million in military funds while in service but later got out after signing a deal with the current Ombudsman, during the time of then Ombudsman Marcelo.

Out of work and pursuing a lone battle against a powerful and rich former general in the AFP, Heidi stood courageously on the ground in the name of truth and justice for the Filipino people.

The Department of Justice put her under the Witness Protection Program.

Related Readings
Gil Cabacungan, Jocelyn Uy &  Marlon Ramos: "Support for ex-auditor Heidi Mendoza snowballs," Philippine Daily Inquirer 02 February 2011