Tesda still Syjuco territory, says complainant

Former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Director General Augusto Syjuco is responsible for his successor’s two-day stint in office said the complainant in a plunder case against Syjuco, said media reports.

Syjuco's tiff with his successor is just the “tip of the iceberg” of the anomalies in Tesda, said Annie Geron, secretary general of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation to the Inquirer.

Geron claimed that the removal from office of Syjuco's successor, Rogelio Peyuan, is a sign that Syjuco is still "dipping his fingers" into the agency and its affairs.

Syjuco allegedly told the President that Peyuan planned to appropriate Tesda funds to bankroll the senatorial campaign of Governor Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos. Peyuan has denied backing Marcos' bid. Peyuan also said Syjuco removed him from office because he denied Syjuco’s request to be involved in a P700-million scholarship program.

Syjuco was one of several executives who resigned on March 2 after they filed their candidacies for the May polls. He is running for representative of the second district of Iloilo, a post currently held by his wife Rep. Judy Syjuco.

The Inquirer reported that Syjuco did not respond to calls on Friday. He has not been feeling well since Thursday, said an unnamed Western Visayas Tesda official.

Syjuco said in an earlier interview that Geron’s plunder case against him was “ridiculous” and “harrassment.” All transactions in his agency and his expenses are accounted for, he said, and chalked up Geron’s charges as “local politics” and a “rehash of trumped-up charges.”

Geron filed a P3.8-billion plunder case against Syjuco last month at the Office of the Ombudsman. Syjuco is accused of violating Republic Act No. 7080 or the Anti-Plunder Law, RA No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), RA No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees) and the General Appropriations Act of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Geron appealed to Tesda employees to speak out on alleged anomalies in the agency in an earlier interview.

Hundreds of Tesda workers staged a walkout and protest Thursday morning after Malacañang revoked Peyuan’s appointment.

In a “lateral transfer”, Peyuan was appointed as a press undersecretary.

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