National Printing Office still authorized printer of government accountable forms

MANILA, Philippines - The National Printing Office (NPO) remains as the authorized printer of accountable forms with money value and specialized forms of national government agencies and local government units (LGUs).

This was stressed yesterday by NPO Director Servando Hizon after clarifying the legal opinion issued recently by former Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite which declared that the NPO had lost its exclusivity in printing the said government forms.

Hizon, who is a former Philippine National Police director of intelligence division and a retired police officer, said it was Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita from whom he obtained confirmation that the NPO remains as the exclusive printer of government forms.

Earlier, Hizon questioned Gaite’s legal opinion that would also strip the NPO of its responsibility to sub-contract the printing of government forms to security printers through public bidding. Gaite issued the opinion in response to a request of the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance.

In a letter to Hizon dated April 7, 2009, Ermita clarified the scope of the NPO’s authority and jurisdiction over the printing and the conduct of sub-contract biddings of government standard and accountable forms.

He said the NPO has exclusive jurisdiction over the printing of accountable forms with money value and those that are specially designed for the agency’s requirement, and may subcontract their printing if it cannot undertake the printing job.

Ermita said that with respect to the printing of other accountable forms, “the prior waiver of the NPO prescribed in Section 26 of Republic Act No. 9254” is necessary if an agency wants to bid out its printing needs to private printers.

Hizon said that if Gaite’s legal opinion will be enforced, it would do away with an indispensable mechanism for safeguarding the integrity and authenticity of official government forms which is tantamount to tolerating a “free-for-all” situation insofar as the printing of official forms of LGUs and other state agencies is concerned.

He said the discretion to award the printing of the government official forms to any private printer is not only risky but also detrimental to public interest as this will have the effect of doing away with the system of check and balance in the printing of accountable forms which should contain security features. This will also remove the proper monitoring and control in the production of these documents. Without these controls, it would be difficult to prevent overprinting of forms, which would unnecessarily bloat government expenses and worsen corruption in the bureaucracy. The task of checking these malpractices has traditionally been performed by the NPO, he added.