Gov’t workers hit TESDA finding exonerating Syjuco

ILOILO CITY—A confederation of government workers and the supplier of overpriced training equipment of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have scored the agency’s findings that pinned the blame on 14 employees and the supplier but virtually exonerated the director-general, Augusto Syjuco.

The Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLink), which filed a plunder case against Syjuco before the Office of the Ombudsman, reiterated its claim that the irregularities could not have happened without Syjuco’s knowledge or participation.

“I urge those officials (held liable for the overprice) to be witnesses in the case against Syjuco and let the ax fall where it should and let Syjuco face the music he (has) long tried to avoid,” PSLink secretary general Annie Geron said in a text message on Sunday.

Syjuco has repeatedly denied any involvement in the deal involving the purchase of training equipment amounting to P302,109,054.53 under the Ladderized Education Program-TESDA (LEP-TES) and Nordic Development Fund-TESDA (NDF-TES).

The LEP, created by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order No. 358 on Sept. 15, 2004, allows training in vocational schools to be used as credit in the pursuit of higher education.

Syjuco formed an eight-member committee to look into the controversy after the Commission on Audit (COA) reported massive overpricing in the transaction.

In a report on March 12, 2009, the COA said the training tools were overpriced by P60,964,195.38 with the overprice ranging from 4 percent to 42,723 percent per item.

It also reported that the delivered items were substandard and were not used by the TESDA training and regional offices.

TESDA Deputy Director General Rogelio Peyuan, head of the investigating committee, reportedly confirmed the irregularities at a press conference in Manila on Saturday and blamed 14 TESDA officials.

But Peyuan said the entire purchase was not overpriced because some items cost higher than the market price while some were underpriced.

In an earlier interview, Peyuan said the training equipment were purchased through lot bidding and not per item.

The committee has submitted its report to the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice for further investigation.

Peyuan reportedly accused the lone supplier, V.G. Roxas Co. Inc. (VGRCI), of bad faith for delivering items that were overpriced but not those found to be underpriced.

The TESDA has paid 75 percent of the P302.1-million contract or around P226.5 million to VGRCI but has withheld the payment of the balance because of the irregularities.

Vicente Roxas, VGRCI president and board chair, decried the results of the investigation.

“Why blame us? The purchase was done through a transparent bidding and we followed all procedures. They were the ones who established the price and we merely followed,” Roxas told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Saturday night.

Roxas disputed the COA report, citing a “misimpression” in the lot purchase because the government auditors focused only on five items that were marked-up considerably but ignored other items where his company had losses reaching P43 million.

The businessman lashed back at TESDA for “destroying my company’s reputation” and called the investigating committee a “kangaroo court.” He said the committee and the investigation was “self-serving to save Syjuco.” –Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas