Heidi’s UN stint puts CA on the spot

We are elated over Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza’s speedy acceptance of a five-year, non-renewable stint with the United Nations headquarters in New York! Consider all these: the city itself; the position—undersecretary general; the first Filipino to hold that position; and the first from a developing country; endorsed by UN regional groups; and accolades from Western countries.

Of greater significance are no longer Mendoza’s credentials but the element of surprise: the speedy approval by the UN General Assembly of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s nomination of Mendoza. Imagine the secretary general himself appearing to be practically “ordering” the assembly. By Nov. 15, Mendoza shall have altered her radar screen partly away from Commission on Audit affairs that her replacement is expected to address.

The UN search committee must have done its homework—exercised due diligence, so to speak, on the commissioner, including the circumstances attendant to her ridiculously delayed confirmation, right in her own country, by the ever-powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) composed of “honorable” members of Philippine Congress. The UN must have wondered at first why, after nearly four years, the appointee did not abandon the COA! That must have been the clincher: The hostile atmosphere in the CA has turned out to a blessing in disguise, after all.

What awaits Mendoza as undersecretary general in the UN Office of Internal Oversight Service (OIOS) in New York City with offices in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna? Around the time Mendoza’s appointment loomed, the OIOS was tasked by the UN secretary general to look into funds that the UN received from two foundations (New York Times, 10/6/15). And in a development that is deemed to further boost Mendoza’s confidence, six personalities, including a former UN General Assembly president, were promptly charged criminally in an alleged $1-million “bribery scheme.”  Conditions are tougher in the COA than in the UN-OIOS, but definitely fulfilling in the latter agency—for auditors—given the importance of the persons involved, and the speed with which they were charged and arrested.

With Mendoza’s term in the COA still to expire in early 2018, the selection of her replacement must be in the works by now. In Mendoza’s case, President Aquino was unable to do a Ban Ki-moon with the Commission on Appointment. Mendoza’s replacement deserves a better treatment. But a fast confirmation would show the CA erred in Mendoza. That would be the CA members’ dilemma!

—MANUEL Q. BONDAD, Barangay Palanan, Makati City