Printing firm links ex-National Printing Office chief to 'syndicate'

An official of the private printing firm that bagged the P33-million contract to supply the accountable forms of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) denied that former National Printing Office (NPO) director Enrique Agana had been fighting “syndicates” in the agency that want to take over printing contracts from other firms.

Guillermo Sylianteng, manager of private printing firm Ready Form based in Marikina City, said Agana seemed to have worked with the syndicate to grab the LTO printing contract from them even though the firm won the contract in a fair and transparent bidding.

“Our company, Ready Form, is the printer who won the June 17, 2008 bidding for the P33-million LTO contract, and we take exception to Mr. Agana’s statement that he had gone out of his way to resist the blackmailing efforts of his admitted ‘syndicate within the NPO’ who he asserts was forcing him to cancel our contract which he then claims he had refused, hence they exposed his sexual molestation escapade,” Sylianteng said.

“On the contrary, Mr. Agana had engaged in an illegal and concerted effort to have us give up the contract, going as far as disqualifying our company and suspending our company on trumped up charges,” Sylianteng said.

Sylianteng said his firm had even gone to the Government Procurement Policy Board to complain of Agana’s actions.

“The GPPB has been made aware of the whole sham proceedings conducted by Agana to remove the contract from us at all costs for award to the syndicate that he refers to,” Sylianteng said.

Agana had accused a syndicate of private printing firms at the NPO working to corner multi-million-peso printing contracts of national government agencies and local government units, as being the people behind the filing of charges against him of sexual molestation of a 13-year-old daughter of his close friend early this month.

The filing of the rape complaint against Agana has been cited as one of the reasons for his relief as NPO director last Friday.

Malacañang has already named Vice Admiral Tirso Danga to replace him but the appointment has been temporarily shelved.

Sylianteng said that Malacañang should conduct a deeper probe into the filing of the rape complaint against Agana and the people behind it.

He said that a separate probe should also be conducted on the public biddings supervised by Agana for the other printing contracts of government agencies that had passed through the NPO.

“It is true, however, that a syndicate operated in the NPO during Agana’s time. The question to ask, however, is who headed the syndicate and how did the syndicate know of Agana’s misdeeds,” Sylianteng said.