Gov’t workers urge swift action on graft vs Syjuco

SYJUCO

The country’s largest public sector confederation of unions on Thursday urged the Sandiganbayan to speed up the resolution of multiple graft cases against former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) chair Augusto Syjuco Jr.

In an appeal sent to the media, Annie Geron, general secretary of Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLink) and former president of Samahang Malaya ng Nagkakaisang Kawani ng Tesda, expressed concern over what she said was the slow pace of litigation of the case against Syjuco in the antigraft court.

“We are afraid the wheel of justice is moving very slowly because of the almost 2,600 cases now pending at the Sandiganbayan,” Geron said.

PSLink is a national confederation of government employees and their unions from different national government agencies, state universities and colleges, local government units, government-financial institutions, and health and special sectors.

Syjuco, who was Tesda chief from 2004 to 2010, was charged with six counts of graft in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with irregularities in the implementation of the Ladderized Education Program of Tesda (Leptes), particularly the Nordic Development Fund-Tesda.

The Sandiganbayan has issued a hold-departure order against Syjuco, a former representative of Manila, and his coaccused—former Tesda Deputy Director General Rogelio Peyuan; Tesda directors Antonio del Rosario, Ernesto Beltran, Teodoro Sanico and Buen Mondejar; lawyer Marjorie Docdocil; chief administrative officer Juanito Belda; administrative officer Maximiano Montemayor; senior administrative assistant Francisco Fang, and Vicente Roxas, president of VG Roxas Co. Inc., which supplied the training equipment and testing tools for the Tesda programs.

An Ombudsman resolution recommending the filing of charges against Syjuco and his coaccused cited a March 12, 2009, report of the Commission on Audit (COA) that discovered the training equipment and tools delivered by VG Roxas Co. Inc. to Tesda for its Leptes projects were substandard and overpriced.

The COA report said the items bought from the supplier were overpriced by 4 to 42,732 percent, or an estimated P61 million. The amount of the items overpriced accounted for at least 20 percent of the total purchase cost of P302 million.

Geron said she and members of PSLink were astonished at how Syjuco was now trying to picture himself as an advocate of good governance when he himself had yet to answer for all the abuses of funds during his tenure as Tesda chair.

“Mr. Syjuco has no moral ascendancy to shout about anticorruption programs,” Geron said. “He is a fake crusader. No one believes him. He enriched himself using government funds intended for the youth scholars of Tesda,” she said.

Geron said Tesda employees were counting on the Aquino administration and the Sandiganbayan to make sure the justice system would succeed against grafters involved in multibillion corruption cases.

She said members of PSLink feared the litigation of Syjuco’s case would be prolonged because of complicated proceedings in the Sandiganbayan and other cases pending in the antigraft court.

“We cannot wait forever,” Geron said. “Our leaders must ensure our cases are promulgated if the Aquino administration is serious in its bid against corruption. Any further delay is intolerable,” she added.