TRANSPARENCY and accountability watchdog Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment (Fate) exhorted Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar to disclose the result of the investigation it ordered regarding the alleged anomalous transaction at the National Printing Office.
Fate goaded Andanar to divulge the result of the probe of Communications Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Enrique Tandan, which the former promised since Friday.
“We hope our appeal will not fall into deaf ears since Secretary Andanar promised the probe would be finished in two weeks,” said Fate.
“It seems Secretary Andanar would rather party at Valykrie than address the problem at the NPO,” said Fate, referring to photos circulating on social media showing Andanar partying with a celebrity.
Aside from the granting of work orders to three additional printers, Fate urged Andanar to also look into allegations there were individuals allegedly acting as “collectors” or “middlemen” at NPO printing contracts.
Last Nov. 21, Tandan, on orders of Andanar, asked NPO director Francisco Vales Jr. to furnish him the contracts, agreements or arrangements with Western Visayas Printing Corp. and the three other printing companies: Best Forms Security Printer, Tri-Print Work and Metro Color.
“Even if it seemed Andanar is disinterested in handling the NPO, he must have shown compassion among its workers instead. As a self-sustaining agency, printing jobs should be given primarily [to] its workers,” said Fate, a Security and Exchange Commission-registered organization.
NPO is an attached agency under PCOO.
Fate has suggested the probe ordered by Andanar should not only focus on redundant printing orders but should also ascertain who are liable for the anomalous transaction.
The group also called on the Commission on Audit to look into the reported work orders entered into by NPO despite the existing contract with WVPC worth P74 million.
Work orders were awarded to three printers, Best Forms Security Printer with envelope no. 08-2016-3877A worth P34 million; Tri-Print Work with work order 08-2016-3877B amounting to P17 million; and Metro Color with work order no. 08-2016-38777C for P15 million.
Following reported transactions, NPO Bids and Awards Committee chairman Sherwin Prose Castañeda quit his post, along with other 10 BAC officials, citing too much pressure from Vales as their reason