Graft raps filed against printing officials

MANILA, Philippines - A private printing firm filed criminal and graft charges against the acting director and six other officials of the National Printing Office for their issuance of an alleged highly illegal and malicious blacklist without jurisdiction earlier this month.

Charged with several counts of violation of the Revised Penal Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the National Internal Revenue Code as well as the Government Procurement Reform Act were retired police general Servando Hizon, NPO acting director; and NPO officials Eddie Vista, chairman of the NPO’s Bids and Awards Committee (NPO-BAC); Josefina San Pedro Samson, BAC vice chairman; and BAC members Miguel Arcadio, Federico Ramos, Jr., Florencia Reyes, and Elsa Calma.

Included in the complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Dec. 21 were officials of Eastland Printing Corp., namely Napoleon Bunagan, Cristina Bunagan, Robert Melchor Bunagan, Ma. Lourdes Bunagan and Isabel Bunagan. The criminal and graft complaint was filed by Marikina City-based printing firm Ready Form, Inc. (RFI) in connection with the order issued by the NPO-BAC on Dec. 1 issuing the latter a five-year suspension for its alleged falsification of financial statements in a supposed bid to gain accreditation with the government printing firm as a “security printer.”

In his complaint, RFI general manager Guillermo Sylianteng, Jr., said that the five-year blacklist wherein he was banned from participating in the subcontract public biddings held by the NPO for printing contracts of various government agencies was highly-malicious, baseless and illegal. Sylianteng said that the NPO officials and the executives of Eastland Printing had apparently colluded to harass him for his exposé of the serious violation of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act when it sub-contracted printing contracts of other government agencies.

It will be recalled that RFI had earlier filed plunder charges against former and incumbent officials of the NPO for continuing their practice of subcontract public biddings of printing contracts despite the enactment of the procurement law.