The six officials of the National Printing Office who were ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman for grave misconduct last year will remain in office, Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said Tuesday.
“Unless and until their dismissal becomes final and executory, they have to stay put,” Coloma said.
Coloma said the six officials—director Emmanuel Andaya, chief administrative officer Sylvia Banda, supervising administrative officer Bernadette Lagumen, printing operations chief Josefina Samson, printing operations chief Antonio Sillona and printing operations assistant chief Ma. Zita Gracia Enriquez, who had never been accused of graft and corruption or crime involving moral turpitude—would simply have to report for work until the Ombudsman has acted on the MR that was submitted.
“We will follow the rule of law,” he said. “They cannot just leave their job. That’s against the law,” Coloma said.
Guillermo Sylianteng, a former supplier of the NPO, filed no less than 60 cases against various executives and lawyers of the government printer. The Office of the Ombudsman took credence in one case where the six officials had approved a contract to supply the National Bureau of Investigation P1.9 million worth of travel clearance certificates back in 2010.
Sylianteng was blacklisted by the NPO for five years starting in 2009 for allegedly falsifying financial statements. His company, Ready Forms Inc., was one of the top suppliers of the NPO for more than a decade until it was blacklisted. During that period, RFI supplied some 25 percent of the printing jobs farmed out by the NPO.
Andaya said he was “stunned, shocked and surprised” why a six-year-old case that was still pending would suddenly appear in media.
“We were only doing our job,” Andaya said, “Why are we being subjected to trial by publicity? And why only now?”