BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Former Iloilo congressman Augusto “Boboy” Syjuco Jr. (2nd District) unleashed a mouthful against President Benigno Aquino III and Technical Education Skills and Development Authority director-general Joel Villanueva.
“Natak-an na guid (ako) sa mga daan nga chopsuey nga ina (I’m tired of all these bullshit),” Syjuco told Panay News.
He was reacting to the report that the Ombudsman has graft charges against him as former head of TESDA for alleged irregularities reaching some P80 million in scholarship funds.
“Old lies” was how Syjuco described the charges.
He served as TESDA chief during the Arroyo administration.
According to Syjuco, the allegations were “dusty old lies taken out for show in their empty parades.”
They want to bring him down because of envy, he claimed.
“They are not able to follow my unprecedented successes at TESDA,” Syjuco boasted.
The present TESDA administration, he said, cannot equal his leadership because “bobo si (President Aquino) kag mas bobo pa gid si Villanueva.”
“’Di bala, zero plus zero equals zero? Ti ano pa bala kundi, puto,” Syjuco added.
In his State of the Nation Address last year, Aquino also accused Syjuco of overpricing the purchases of TESDA equipment.
Syjuco, however, has continuously denied the accusation, saying he stopped the payments for the supplies.
In complaints filed at the 3rd Division of the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman accused Syjuco of entering into contracts grossly disadvantageous to the government.
This, according to the Ombudsman, violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Regardless of whether it is proven that the violator profited from the deal or not, the law penalizes the violation.
According to the Ombudsman, TESDA under Syjuco issued scholarship vouchers worth P79.9 million even if the agency was being weighed down by a budget deficit./PN
