MANILA, Philippines - Former Commission on Audit (COA) employee Heidi Mendoza found another adoring fan in the usually stuck-up Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.

In a statement, Santiago said: “I love Heidi Mendoza. I admire her a lot. She must be a very brave woman. We in the public must try and give her support as much as possible.”

The COA auditor on Tuesday revealed that her former boss, former chairman Guillermo Carague, told her to go easy on the investigation being done on the corruption case against former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.

“We must presume that her duty has been regularly performed. That is the presumption under the Rules of Court. Now, if we grant her that presumption, then we presume that it is true that certain auditors told her to ‘go easy,’” Santiago stressed.

This in itself is already a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, she added.

“The Anti-Graft law makes it a crime if you persuade, influence or instigate somebody to break the law or to break rules and regulations. So her accusers, at this stage, stand accused of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law,” Santiago said.

The lawmaker previously claimed there is widespread corruption in the military. In a privilege speech in 2004, she said that almost P1.44 billion is lost every year due to this.

“It must be more than that today because I delivered that speech in 2004. So I can just imagine how much has been lost from our government especially from our foot soldiers themselves,” she added.

Santiago said the revelations from Mendoza, as well as the statement from former military budget officer George Rabusa, should get the wheels turning.

“My only handicap at that time was that I could not produce an eyewitness who of course is willing to brave the trials and tribulations of testifying against very powerful and very rich people,” Santiago said.