NPO exec retracts resignation letter

An official of the National Printing Office (NPO) who is being linked to the controversy over alleged anomalies in the NPO said she had been pressured into signing a resignation letter that she had not even read.

In her letter to Francisco Vales, NPO director, Jennifer Tomas, a member of the NPO bids and awards committee (BAC), said she was told to sign the letter by NPO deputy director Sherwin Prose Castaneda, who chairs the NPO BAC.

“I affixed my signature as solicited at the last minute before the closing hours of the same day, not knowing the content thereof,” said Tomas in her letter to Vales dated Nov. 28, 2016.

Tomas is among members of the NPO BAC who resigned en masse.

She said she read the letter that she signed only after it was officially released at the BPO Records Section.

“Except on the issue of procurement reforms being undertaken, with all honesty and humility, I have no more personal knowledge or information on what were alleged or stated in the said resignation letter,” Tomas explained.

On Nov. 21, 11 career NPO officials submitted letters of resignation in the wake of alleged anomalous transactions in printing contribution forms of the Social Security System.