THE key executives of APO-Productivity Unit or APO-PU, a state-owned printing company, may face graft charges for allegedly entering into a partnership agreement with a private corporation without authorization.
The Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions, the group that requested to reduce the price of a passport to P650, said Monday it was poised to file graft charges against APO-PU’s key executives after presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo recommended to dump the joint venture APO-United Graphic Expression Corp. or APO-UGEC.
“Clearly, this JVA [joint-venture agreement] had no basis whatsoever because at the time of its signing, the DFA had not yet appointed APO-PU as the government’s official printer of the passports. That appointment eventually came on Oct. 5, 2015 when the DFA and APO-PU concluded a memorandum of agreement on the e-passport project,” PAFLU president Eleuterio Tuazon said.
He invoked a finding by Panelo who said the joint venture agreement between APO-PU and UGEC, signed on Nov. 14, 2014, was illegal and void from the start.
In a seven-page document dated Jan. 23, 2017, Panelo said the MOA mandated APO-PU to use its own facilities, equipment and machinery in printing the passports for Foreign Affairs.
“APO is prohibited from directly or indirectly engaging private contractors to undertake the [passport] project, and may only implement the infrastructure project in-house, by job-order or through the pakyaw contracting system,” Panelo said.
He said APO-PU could be held liable for violating pertinent rules and regulations, as well as Republic Act 9184, also called the Anti-Graft Law, for subcontracting the printing of passports to UGEC.
“Such subcontracting arrangement or assignment may subject the APO and/or UGEC officials responsible for the same to criminal and and administrative liabilities pursuant to RA Nos. 9184 and 3019, the Administrative Code of 1987, and other applicable procurement and criminal laws,” Panelo said.