Ex-Tesda chief indicted for graft

Former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) chief Augusto Syjuco Jr. has been indicted on graft and malversation charges for allegedly using his own foundation to obtain P4.3 million in government funds to finance his chicken business.

In a news release, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said she found probable cause to charge the former Iloilo representative with malversation and violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for entering into a multimillion government contract using his own nongovernment organization, Tagipusuon Foundation Inc.

The NGO then entered into a supply contract with Ilonggo Chickboy Corp., which is also controlled by Syjuco.

Morales said their investigation revealed “torrid signs of a criminal activity contrived clandestinely.”  She added that Syjuco “used these two entities in bilking out public money from the treasury.”

The Ombudsman also ordered the filing of charges against Eduardo Lecciones, former regional director of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Mylene Villanueva of Tagipusuon, and Antonio Rojas, president of Ilonggo Chickboy Corp.

The complaint said that in 2000, Syjuco, as a member of Congress, used the NGO as a conduit for obtaining P4.3 million in government funds to finance Chickboy’s poultry business.

The financial grant extended by the DA to Tagipusuon was intended to finance its district-wide poultry breeding and production project, the investigation by the Ombudsman showed.

Chickboy Corp. then entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the NGO for the supply of Kabir chicks.