MANILA, Philippines–“Chilling,” the word young people use in place of “relaxation” or “blowing off steam,” is how Grace Pulido-Tan describes the life she has been living since retiring as Commission on Audit (COA) chair early this month.

“I just came from Dumaguete. I brought my own staff who were all co-terminus.  They brought their spouses and children. It was really fun. I like that kind of thing. I was chilling,” she told
Inquirer Lifestyle before leaving for New York last week.

Tan still needs to attend meetings at the United Nations because she sits in its Independent Audit Advisory Committee. Conferences are held four times a year and this is the first for 2015.

The day before her flight, Tan was at the veranda of  Wack Wack Golf and Country Club. She was with her husband, lawyer Bayani “Nonoy” Tan, and some friends, killing time before catching Lea Salonga’s Valentine concert in Wack Wack that night.

Tan wore a crimson blouse accessorized with an opera-length pearl-and-gold-chain necklace.

She does not hide the fact that she smokes. Her only request is that she not be photographed while doing so. “Hindi ako magandang kunan, I don’t smoke like a socialite,” she said.

Tan remembered the Dumaguete sojourn as “great” because everyone was carefree (“wala kaming iniisip”), the sole agenda was to try out all the culinary specialties that the Negros Oriental capital is known for. But Nonoy, a corporate lawyer, was unable to come along.

“You know the kind of thing where you set forth without an agenda? I love doing that. I’m not the person who plans, the one who sticks to a certain schedule… Hate na hate ko ’yun,” she said.

For someone who headed a quasi-judicial body that requires order and structure, Tan has a surprisingly laidback view. She accepts a specific task, does it well and “moves on to the next chapter. I don’t form attachments.”

Which is probably the reason she quickly put behind the Judicial and Bar Council’s (JBC) decision to choose Francis Jardeleza as Supreme Court associate justice, instead of her, last year. There was only one slot and Tan was also interested.

“Hindi sumama ang loob ko,” she said. Tan thought of moving to the tribunal after her retirement from COA was the next logical step “because it’s the job I know best.”

Before her COA stint, Tan was  in private law practice. But she already gained street cred as undersecretary for revenue operations group of the Department of Finance from 2003 to 2004. Before that, she was also a commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

Tan, a certified public accountant, did not apply for the COA post and was surprised that her name came up on the  shortlist.

Tan said President Aquino  did not know her personally although she joined the horde of volunteers when he ran in 2010.

“I suppose there were people who knew, worked with me, who probably brought me to the attention of the President.  In fact, I asked ‘why me?’ Ang taray-taray ko, ang tapang-tapang ko. Precisely, they insisted, saying ‘you don’t say no to the President.’ I asked for time. Pinag-isipan ko, pinagdasalan ko,” she recalled.

Feisty woman

Apart from her track record, Tan’s feistiness was apparently a major factor in attracting executive attention.

Did she really call herself a “bitch” in media? “Yes, because I can be a bitch. I’m very mataray. Of course… not all the time but I don’t hesitate to be taray,” she said.
“I talk straight and I really speak my mind. The only thing I think I need to be conscious about is huwag naman akong bastos, (for me) not to be rude… But I just say things as is because I’ve always been like that,” Tan added.

Recall the moment in 2013 when Tan held a rare press conference to present the special audit report (SAR) detailing how lawmakers misused the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2007-2009. Her use of the Tagalog word “kahindik-hindik” (appalling), to describe the abuse of pork barrel, ruffled legislative feathers and spawned criticism. But the woman held her ground.

Tan did not mention a specific timeframe but admitted that government officials called her when they got wind of their inclusion in the SAR.

“With that report or any other report, people always reach out to me. Many of them tried to explain why it is like this or like that. Of course, I listened but at the end of the day, we stand by the report,” she said.

Tan explained that numbers speak for themselves and she would rather rely on figures that don’t lie. “It’s really the facts and the evidence that I go to,” she said.

Still, Tan refused to take full credit for the SAR that is now being used by government prosecutors to pin down those who stuffed themselves with legislative lard. She said she “just happened to be the chairperson” when the SAR was released but work began even before she came in 2011 to fulfill the unexpired four years left in the term of her predecessor Reynaldo Villar.

“I think the honor should go to those who made halukay the ground although I provided the leadership and the fortitude to bring it out, the form that it took and with all the names there,” she added.

Standing her ground

What Tan is proud of was her determination to stick to the data in the report, regardless of who got hit. “I knew I would be called to defend (the SAR). It was a very sensitive report and I think I would have been naive to think it would be received with welcoming arms,” she said.

The only recourse was to make sure it was a highly credible report so she would be able to stand by it and not embarrass the agency that put it all together.

Observers agree that the SAR and the accompanying paradigm shift in COA’s working environment as a result of Tan’s work ethic would be her crowning legacy.

Even the Inquirer recognized the achievement, naming Tan, with Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, “Filipino of the Year” for 2014.

“It was a pleasant surprise.  (The story) came out on my last day in office on Feb. 1. What a beautiful sendoff,” she pointed out.

Tan is also understandably proud of the noticeable change in attitude among COA employees. “Of course there’s always a culture because people have been there for the longest time. I was there for only a few years… but puwede pala, we can do things,” she said.

Her effort to convince subordinates to discard previous work attitudes took guts but “did not take rocket science. It’s just doing what you need to do and standing by it.”

She also noted that COA already hosted “a lot of very good people” when she came in. “But they (had) to swim against a certain culture and that’s why I think the leadership counts a lot. In COA, napalutang natin ang talagang magagaling.  On the other hand, ’yung mga medyo sablay, nailagay sa lugar.”

Tan said this is also the reason she admires President Aquino, for sticking to his guns on “daang matuwid” despite the costs.

“I think from the time he assumed office, he’s been doing what he could. It may not be up to par or expectation but I can see he is exerting a lot of effort.  For me, that’s good enough,” Tan said.

Parallelism

Despite the brickbats now being hurled against Mr. Aquino, Tan noted that the President has managed to retain a certain composure. And apparently, she sees the parallelism between her COA stint and President Aquino’s present predicament.

“From where he sits as President, there are just so many influences around him and it takes someone who is very strong to be able to navigate that kind of a circle.  The fact that he is very well-meaning… and as far as I can see, he is exerting a lot of effort,” she said.

By now, Tan should have finished tying up the loose ends as far as COA  paperwork  goes.  Even in post-retirement, there are still reports to be finished,  to be turned over to her successor.

Tan said she accepted the COA stint because her five children are now grown. Husband Nonoy was also very supportive of her decision.

“He’s the perfect husband for a working wife because he pushes you, he does not stand in the way at all. He does not feel good when he sees me idle,” she said.

There will hardly be a chance for idleness now that Tan is, in her words, “unemployed.”

She will be sleeping more, waking up much later than usual and enjoying more time with her grandchild. “I love puttering around the garden. But that’s about it. I’m not really a hardcore gardener,” she said.

“I like keeping house, I read a lot, I crochet.  I’m so manang!” she exclaimed.