MANILA – A ranking government official has confirmed that serious irregularities, including overpricing, allegedly attended the purchase by a government agency of training materials worth the equivalent of $60 million.
Rogelio Peyuan, the officer-in-charge of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), disclosed that based on initial investigation, the scandal arose mainly from the decision of a Tesda committee to award to just one company the supply of training materials for distribution to the agency’s branches nationwide.
Peyuan headed a special committee that investigated the alleged scam as contained in a 2009 report of the Commission on Audit.
Government auditors reported they discovered as much as 4,000 percent overpricing like, for example, in Tesda’s purchase of a baking equipment needed for training.
The auditors likewise reported that many employees in the Tesda offices refused to use the materials and equipment because they were so “fragile” that they would be forced to pay the overpriced amount if these were damaged.
Peyuan identified 14 Tesda officials, mostly members of the agency’s bids and awards committee, who were allegedly involved in the scandal.
But he refused to give their names, saying he would leave this up to the Department of Justice which received his report on the investigation, including the possibility of filing criminal and administrative charges against the suspects before the office of the Ombudsman.
Peyuan also refused to say whether former congressman Buboy Syjuco of Negros Occidental province in the Visayas, the Tesda executive director on leave, was among those recommended for criminal prosecution.
Before the start of the investigation, however, Peyuan already cleared Syjuco as he pointed out that in signing the purchase documents, the Tesda head was doing a “purely ministerial” function.
This drew widespread protests from critics who insisted that Syjuco, who is acknowledged as a protege of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, should also be held accountable for the alleged scandal.
Syjuco was also recently in the limelight when he was accused by administration Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago of using Tesda funds in producing an “infomercial”to advance his political ambitions in the May 2010 elections.
In his report, meanwhile, Peyuan noted that the 14 Tesda officials have forgotten or have developed amnesia” regarding their involvement in the allegedly anomalous award of the contract to the lone supplier, identified as V.G. Roxas Company based in the Visayas in 2008.
“Unfortunately, it appears that all of them have developed amnesia during the investigation on how they came out with their price estmates on the equipment,” Peyuan said.
Tesda earlier insisted that the price estimates of the allegedly overpriced training materials and equipment were near the bid prices submitted by V.G. Roxas.
He also disclosed his committee discovered alleged bad faith on the part of V.G. Roxas, which immediately delivered the equipment deemed as overpriced by government auditors to the Tesda centers nationwide.
On the other hand, the company failed to deliver the materials and equipment which were found to be underpriced, according to Peyuan.
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