A Facebook video showing former Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza supposedly admitting that the agency is being coerced by the Marcos administration is circulating among Filipino netizens. This is false.
First uploaded on May 7, the 35-second video shows Mendoza saying:
“Hindi po madali itong pinapagawa sa amin. Ayoko hong gawin ang mga bagay na ito pero lagi ho akong nabibigyan ng ganitong ano. Enough to say ho na sana maintindihan ho ng publiko at ang lahat na hindi ho kami natutuwa sa aming ginagawa. Mahirap ho ito para sa amin. Kaya ho, tinatakot kami, kami [ay] pinepressure at siguro kung ako’y makakasuhan ay kakasuhan din. Sana ho makita ng publiko kung gaano kahirap ang buhay ng isang auditor.
(What they want us to do is not easy. I don’t want to do these things but I am always given these tasks. Enough to say that I hope the public understands we aren’t happy with what we are doing. This is hard for us. So, we are being threatened, we are pressured and if I could be sued, I would be sued. I hope the public sees how hard the life of an auditor is.)”
The clip included overlaid text that read:
“NAG SALITA NA INAMiN
COA tinatakot may banta sa audit gusto ng mga marcos administration sila ang masusunod lahat pati audit martial law is real GISING PILIPINAS
(HAD SPOKEN TO ADMIT
COA being threatened on audit. The Marcos administration wants to have their way in everything including audit. Martial law is real. WAKE UP PHILIPPINES)”
This is false. The original video came from an ANC Live streaming of a Senate hearing on Oct. 2, 2014 where Mendoza shared that COA auditors were pressured and threatened after she testified in a probe into irregularities at the Makati City hall.
During the hearing, COA presented findings showing that the construction of Makati City Hall Building 2 and the purchase of medical equipment were overpriced.
The investigation was done in line with the corruption charges filed against former Makati City mayor Elenita Binay at the Sandiganbayan.
Following Mendoza’s testimony, then senator Miriam Defensor Santiago proposed a resolution seeking intensified protection for the COA commissioner and recommended her admission into the Witness Protection Program.
Mendoza was COA commissioner from 2011 to 2015 and later appointed undersecretary general of the United Nations Internal Oversight Services based in New York. She ran for senator in the 2025 midterm elections but lost.
As of writing, the post by Facebook user Arman M. Talorong has garnered 1.2 million views, 17,000 reactions, 2,600 comments and 14,000 shares.
Editor’s note: This fact check was produced with the help of a journalism student of the University of the Philippines Diliman as part of their internship at VERA Files
