NPO exec suspended for neglect of duty

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has suspended Emmanuel C. Andaya, acting director of the National Printing Office (NPO), for one month and one day for “simple neglect of duty.”

The decision was penned by Assistant Ombudsman Leilani Bernadette Cabras and approved on March 18 by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

It was made based on an administrative complaint filed by Guillermo Sylianteng, a private printer, who accused Andaya of dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service for hiring private lawyers Salvador C. Malana III and Glacy S. Tabirara to represent the NPO in a civil case in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

In her decision, Cabras said she found no “exceptional reason” for Andaya to hire two private lawyers without the mandatory consent of the government’s primary defender, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and the Commission on Audit.

“Records show that he (Andaya) attempted to secure the written conformity of the OSG, albeit belatedly, when he asked for the intercession of Secretary Hermino Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office for the deputization of Malana,” said Cabras.

However, Cabras said, this did not amount to dishonesty and “Andaya’s administrative liability amounts only to simple neglect of duty.”

Sylianteng said the two lawyers were hired without any bidding and were paid a compensation package of P400,000. He also said the NPO had a resident counsel, Sylvia C. Banda, whom Sylianteng said Andaya should have tapped.

In his defense, Andaya said that no NPO funds were paid to Malana and Tabirara who, he said, worked pro bono on the RTC case. Andaya said that he and the NPO had been the subject of several complaints by Sylianteng that he called a form of harassment.

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