MANILA – Former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Augusto Syjuco Jr. and wife Judy, former congresswoman of Iloilo’s 2nd District, charged by the Office of the Ombudsman with graft before the Sandiganbayan’s 2nd Division, offered to plead guilty for a lesser offense to avoid imprisonment.
The Ombudsman accused Mrs. Syjuco of transferring P20 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to nongovernment organization Tagipusuon Cooperative through TESDA from 2005 to 2006 for TESDA’s I-CARE Program when Mr. Syjuco was the director general.
According to the Ombudsman, however, the Commission on Audit found that Tagipusuon purchased only P15 million worth of school bags, notebooks and uniforms for elementary and high school students and that P5.297 million of the PDAF was unaccounted.
In their motion seeking a plea bargain even at this stage of their trial, the Syjuco couple invoked their health issues.
A plea bargain would also make the government “save precious time and valuable resources” in the prosecution of their case, the couple added.
The Syjucos, in their motion filed by lawyer Federico Roxas, asked that they be allowed to plead guilty to the lower offense of “possession of prohibited interest by a public officer” or for violation of sections 106 and 108 of the Government Auditing Code.
However, the Syjucos were only inclined to pay the total penalty of P400 to P2,000 with no subsidiary imprisonment, their motion stated.
The 75-year-old Augusto cited his “frail health”, specifically his Advanced Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a disease of the blood that could, at any given time, lead to leukemia. The motion stated he was “slowly dying.”
Judy, on the other hand, stated she recently suffered a stroke that led to her sustaining a broken rib cage.
The motion also stated she was finding it “sorely difficult” to participate in the trial and lamented the cost of litigation./PN
