Syjuco posts bail for graft raps: "Anomalies" during his term as TESDA exec

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Even before policemen got a chance to arrest him, Augusto Syjuco posted P90,000 bail for graft charges filed against him at the Sandiganbayan.

Syjuco, a former congressman of Iloilo's 2nd district, is facing six counts of violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) that he allegedly committed during his term as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Associate Justice Roland Jurado of the Sandiganbayan's 5th Division ordered Syjuco's arrest last August 27.

Policemen of the Sta. Barbara Police Station in Iloilo province were about to serve the arrest warrant, under Sandiganbayan Criminal Case No. C-057920581, but they failed to do it on Thursday afternoon at his house in Sta. Barbara town.

Hours later, a staff of Syjuco went to the police station and presented a court release order indicating that the former TESDA official had already posted the P90,000 bail. The Sandiganbayan initially set P180,000 bail for all six charges but Syjuco succeeded in convincing the court to slash the amount in half.

Syjuco and ten others were charged for graft last May. His co-accused were former TESDA officials, deputy director general Rogelio Peyuan and directors Antonio Del Rosario, Ernesto Beltran, Teodoro Sanico and Buen Mondejar, lawyer Marjorie Docdocil, chief administrative officer Juanito Belda, administrative officer Maximiano Montemayor, senior administrative assistant Francisco Fang and private respondent Vicente Roxas, president and chairman of V.G. Roxas Co., Inc.,

The case stemmed from the alleged irregularities in various projects undertaken in 2007 when he headed TESDA during the incumbency of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Office of the Ombudsman's Field Investigation Office and former TESDA employee Annie Geron, in filing the cases, asserted the alleged irregular disbursement of funds for TESDA's Ladderized Education Program, particularly those involving the LEPTES-02, LEPTES-03 and Nordic Development Fund-TESDA (NDFTES) projects.

A Commission on Audit report (dated March 12, 2009), showed that the training equipment and testing tools, delivered by V.G. Roxas Co. for the projects were substandard and also overpriced by P60,964,195.38, or 20.18 percent of the total procurement cost of P302,109,054.53.

Further, the COA noted that of the P133,035,366.24 worth of these equipment and tools, more than P70.96 million worth was found unutilized, gathering dust in stock rooms, some of which were already destroyed by rodents.

Even President Benigno Aquino III, in this year's state of the nation address (SONA), noted this overpriced procurement. He said: "Halimbawa: Ang isang incubator jar, nagkakahalaga ng P149. Pero kay Ginoong Syjuco ayon sa mga datos ay P15,375. Ang normal na presyo ng dough cutter, P120; ang presyo kay Ginoong Syjuco: P48,507. Linawin po natin, dough cutter ito, at hindi Hamilton Class Cutter. Baka nga po kapag hinarap na niya ang kasong isinampa ng Ombudsman, matuto nang magbilang itong si Ginoong Syjuco." (FREEMAN)