Anti-DAP petitioner gets DAP funds during GMA time

PRESS RELEASE:

Augusto “Buboy” Syjuco Jr. has absolutely no moral ascendancy to assail the constitutionality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, after it was revealed during the Supreme Court hearing on the DAP that he himself availed of P4.76 billion additional funds using government savings during his stint as the director general of theTechnical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), a labor leader said.

Annie Geron, general secretary of Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), was referring to the Supreme Court oral arguments on the Disbursement Acceleration Plan last November 19, where justices questioned Syjuco for receiving additional funding amounting to P4.76 billion in 2009.

“During the set of questions made by Supreme Court justices particularly Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Syjuco had disclosed that he as head of TESDA in 2009 received P4.76 Billion in additional funds, which were sourced from government savings,” recalled Geron.

“He was caught red-handed when CJ Sereno called to the Commission on Audit report  indicating that the P4.76 billion funds were not solely obtained from the PSF as he initially claimed,” she said.

“The COA report said that the funds Syjuco obtained was also sourced from the budgets for personal benefits savings, pension and gratuity fund, Priority Development Assistance Fund, and unreleased and unobligated portions of the budget,” added Geron.

There is a principle in law that he who comes to court must come with clean hands, said the labor leader. “But in the case of Syjuco, he comes to court with very dirty hands since he received funds which are the subject of graft cases pending before the Sandiganbayan which issued a hold departure order against him.”

Syjuco, along with other former TESDA officials is currently charged by the Sandiganbayan’s special Fifth Division for P60-million worth of irregularities over the disbursement of funds for TESDA’s Ladderized Education Program, particularly those involving the LEPTES-02, LEPTES-03 and Nordic Development Fund-TESDA (NDFTES) projects.

Geron, one of the complainants in the graft charges against his former boss, said that Syjuco’s “confused answers” to the questions posed by CJ Sereno show how “he is so ill-suited to leading the petition against something he had no qualms about when he was the one in power.”

Syjuco is set to face graft charges related to his TESDA stint at the preliminary hearing by the Sandiganbayan on November 29.

“That Syjuco possesses zero moral authority to continue acting as some constitutional crusader driving for the DAP’s illegality. The revelations just show that Syjuco’s presence in this issue is a matter of political interest and personal benefit, rather than due to some principle or ideology,” Geron stressed.

Geron warned that Syjuco’s participation in the DAP petitions and other recent and highly-publicized political issues should not muddle away attention from the investigation being done for the six counts of graft currently filed against the former TESDA head.

“We should not let the political spectacles and media detours deter the systems of justice from prosecuting those who are truly guilty with misusing public funds,” Geron said.

Earlier, Geron warned that Syjuco may attempt to evade justice by pulling off a “wheelchair defense,” as employed by his political patron, ex-Pres. Arroyo, when she tried to avoid accountability for the cases filed against her.

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PSLINK VRC conducts orientation on Whistleblower Protection Bill

More than 30 teachers  Eastern Visayas Teachers Association (EVITA) attended the 1-day Orientation on the Whistleblower Protection Bill organized by PSLINK Visayas Regional Council last April 12, 2013 in the Dr. A. P. Banez Memorial Elementary School, Barangay Fatima, Tacloban City, Leyte.

The orientation is part of a series of awareness-raising activities of the confederation under the Country Program with the LO/FTF to mobilize support for the passage of a bill that would protect whistleblowers in the public sector.

Photo below shows some of the officers of EVITA who attended the orientation.

PSLINK joins march for FOI!

PSLINK along with the other members of the Right to Know Right Now Coalition, multi-sectoral coalition committed to advancing freedom of information in the country, held a mobilization in Mendiola on November 12, 2012 to further put pressure on the current government to pass the Freedom of Information Bill.

PSLINK General Secretary at the Press Con for FOI

Annie Enriquez-Geron, General Secretary of PSLINK, joined the press conference organized by the Right to Know Right Now Coalition on July 21, 2012 in Sulo Hotel to push Congress to pass the Freedom of Information Bill.

Freedom Run for FOI

PSLINK alongside other FOI advocates joined the Freedom Run held on November 2011 at the UP Academic Oval.

Messages during the Freedom Run: PNOY, WTF!? (Where’s the Freedom of Information?)

                                                                         No FOI , NO FREEDOM !

We would like to thank our local affiliates from NAPEMA, DPWH NCR EU, FMMED, QCFED and NMED Chapters for joining the event. Mabuhay kayo!!!