12 more graft cases filed vs Syjuco

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—The Office of the Ombudsman has filed more graft charges against Augusto Syjuco, former congressman and head of the Technical Education and Skills Authority (Tesda), for irregularities that cost the government some P80 million in funds supposedly for scholarships given out by the Tesda under Syjuco.

In 12 separate complaints filed at the third division of the antigraft court Sandiganbayan on April 15, the Ombudsman charged Syjuco with violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for entering into contracts grossly disadvantageous to the government.

The law penalizes a violation regardless of whether it is proven that the violator profited from the deals.

Bail of P30,000 for each of the complaint, or a total of P360,000, was recommended.

The Ombudsman charged Syjuco, Tesda chief during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with issuing scholarship vouchers worth P79.9 million despite the Tesda then suffering from a budget deficit.

Tesda scholars are issued vouchers to enroll in Tesda-accredited schools.

The vouchers are issued under a program named after Arroyo—Pangulong Gloria Scholarship Program (PGSP)—and distributed to seven local government units, a national government agency and two private schools.

Nearly half of the vouchers, or P30 million worth, were issued to Trace Computer College in Los Baños, Laguna province, which is owned by the family of Efraim Genuino, former chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and a close ally of Arroyo.

The other vouchers were issued to: Department of Agriculture (P29 million), Cebu province (P10.2 million), Batangas province (P5 million), lone district of Mountain Province (P1.5 million), first district of Zamboanga del Sur (P999,660), Active Learning Center in Pasig City (P969,000), first district of Cavite (P794,640), first district of Leyte (P498,540) and third district of Laguna (P494,800).

Syjuco, the Ombudsman said, issued the vouchers to the recipients despite knowing that the Tesda was already short in cash to finance PGSP.

In his reply to the Ombudsman, Syjuco said the release of the vouchers was not disadvantageous to the government since these benefited close to 2 million students in 2009 alone.

Syjuco said there was no need to worry about the fund shortfall as this could be “readily paid out of the Tesda’s present or future budgets.”

In a 12-page resolution dated Oct. 2, 2013, and approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Dec. 23, 2013, the Ombudsman said Syjuco had been repeatedly reminded about the shortage in funds for PGSP but proceeded with the program.

On June 25, 2009, Juliet Loria, head of PGSP Project Management Office, and Anabelle Quimbo, officer in charge of the Tesda Budget Division, issued a memorandum to Syjuco saying that the Tesda spent or committed P7.5 billion in funds despite having a budget of only P5.6 billion for PGSP.