Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has found probable cause to charge former Iloilo Representative Augusto Syjuco, Jr. with Malversation and violation of Sections 3(e) and 3(h) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for entering into a multi-million government contract using his own non-government organization (NGO) Tagipusuon Foundation, Inc. The Ombudsman also ordered the filing of charges against Eduardo Lecciones, former regional director of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Mylene Villanueva of Tagipusuon and Antonio Rojas, president of Ilonggo Chickboy Corporation.
The investigation showed that in 2000, Syjuco used the NGO as a conduit to obtain P4.3 million in government funds to finance Chickboy’s poultry business. According to the complainant, Syjuco controls the NGO and Ilonggo Chickboy Corporation. The P4.3million financial grant extended by the DA to Tagipusuon was intended to finance its district-wide poultry breeding and production project. Chickboy Corporation then entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the NGO for the supply of Kabir chicks.
The Ombudsman found several anomalies in the fund disbursement such as lack of public bidding in choosing the NGO as project-implementor; Tagipusuon had no track record and no declared experience in project implementation; and the MOA had no clear project statement, list of intended beneficiaries, project cost estimates, time schedules, as well as monitoring and inspection requirements.
According to Ombudsman Morales, the actions of respondents reveal “torrid signs of a criminal activity contrived clandestinely.” She added that Syjuco “used these two entities in bilking out public money from the treasury.” ###