TESDA blacklists 2 suppliers

MANILA, Philippines - The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has blacklisted two suppliers for alleged involvement in fund irregularities during the time of Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. as head of the agency.

“We stopped dealing with them following the recommendation of investigators of the Ombudsman’s office for the filing of criminal charges against them,” TESDA director general Joel Villanueva told The STAR yesterday.

He identified the two as Vicente Roxas, president and board chairman of V. G. Roxas Co. Inc.; and Lyndon Ang, president-manager of State Alliance Enterprises.

He said he would submit a report to the Government Procurement Policy Board on the action TESDA has taken against its two suppliers for its information and the information of other agencies.

“I have read the audit report on the alleged overpricing of training and testing tools, equipment and materials supplied by Roxas and we are asking him to reimburse us more than P60 million, which is the overpriced amount found by auditors,” he said.

The Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO) has recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Syjuco; his successor, Rogelio Peyuan; and 11 other former and incumbent TESDA officials and employees, plus Roxas and Ang.

The FIO found Syjuco and the other former and incumbent TESDA officials, and the two suppliers to have violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for “irregularly disbursing” and “unlawfully entering into contracts” worth P328.4 million.

The audit team also discovered that supplies worth millions of pesos were not used because these were not the ones needed by training schools and centers, or there were no enrollees in the programs offered.

Villanueva said many of the tools and supplies are now rotting in training centers “and we don’t know what to do with them.”

“They also procured shotguns and ammunition for the centers, but we don’t employ and have no money for guards. We are thinking of donating these weapons to a local government unit with an acute lack of firearms,” he said.