By: Fernando Cabigao Jr., Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
February 2, 2015 10:51 AM
MANILA, Philippines — She is the first female head of the Commission on Audit, but that will not be the only distinction Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan will be remembered for after her term of office lapses tomorrow.
Indeed, she will leave behind a trail of groundbreaking reforms in the government’s premier audit institution, even though she was its chief for only three years and nine months.
Pulido-Tan herself has told the media that she considers as her legacy the spearheading of the special audit report on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” from 2007 to 2009, during the Arroyo administration. The report has in part caused three incumbent senators to be detained and haled to court.