Businessman denies 'harassing' NPO employees

MANILA, Philippines - Businessman Guillermo Sylianteng Jr. denied allegations he harassed National Printing Office (NPO) officials and employees with various lawsuits after losing his bid for a government contract.

In a letter to The STAR, Sylianteng lawyer Claro Jordan Santamaria said the claims of a group of concerned NPO officers that Sylianteng was a tax cheat and a blacklisted contractor were baseless and malicious.

Santamaria said the Bureau of Internal Revenue and its tax fraud unit “investigated, validated and affirmed” the tax returns of Ready Forms, his client’s company, for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

As for the issue on alleged blacklisting of the businessman’s Ready Form company, the lawyer said this was already belied by the Government Procurement Policy Board, the firm’s government clients, and two former NPO bid and award committees members – Florencia Reyes and Federico Ramos – who admitted they were only forced to sign a prepared blacklist order to harass Ready Form.

Santamaria said his client believes that it was him who is being harassed by NPO because “Ready Form has successfully competed against NPO by taking away a majority of NPO’s government clients.”

He added that former NPO chief accountant Veronica Balcos had admitted before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office that she had fabricated the sales report that carried inflated sales figures.

Copies of the affidavits of the three former NPO officials were sent by the counsel to The STAR.

In a letter to Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the group of concerned NPO employees called on the DOJ to investigate if there are pending cases against Sylianteng and if he pays his taxes properly.

They also urged the DOJ to check on his citizenship and his right to do business in the country.

The group also asked the DOJ chief to order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the possibility that the businessman, who has reportedly been a blacklisted contractor, had links with syndicates involved in production of fraudulent documents.

The complainants submitted to the DOJ documents to back up their accusation against Sylianteng.