The militant
group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on Malacanang to implement the dismissal
order by the Ombudsman on six officials of the National Printing Office (NPO) who
are currently overseeing the printing of ballots for the coming elections.
Recently the Ombudsman released a decision dated September 15, 2015, denying
the motion for reconsideration (MR) of the axed NPO officers.
“With the
junking of the MR, there is no more alibi for Malacanang to refuse to execute
the dismissal order. The six NPO officers must be dismissed immediately, in
fact they should have been removed yesterday. Instead these corrupt officials are
now administering the ballot printing thus casting doubt on the credibility of
the elections,” argued Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson of PM which is running in
the elections as a partylist group.
In a
decision dated July 24, 2015 and signed by Graft Investigation and Prosecution
Officer II Jose Ronald Bersales and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the
court found the officials “guilty of grave misconduct” in connection with the
anomalous printing of travel clearance certificates of the National Bureau of
Investigation worth P1.9 million on Nov. 18, 2010.
Dismissed
in the order were Emmanuel Andaya, NPO director; Sylvia Banda, chief
administrative officer; Josefina Samson, printing operations chief; Antonio
Sillona, printing operations chief; Bernadette Lagumen, supervising
administrative officer; and Ma. Gracia Enriquez, printing operations assistant
chief.
NPO
employees led by Mario Adarlo, former head of the labor union, started the call
for the axing of the NPO officials. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo
also supported the demand for the dismissal of the NPO officials to ensure clean
and honest elections. There is also a change.org petition calling for the
implementation of the dismissal order.
“We ask
Malacanang: Daang matuwid or double standard? When political enemies are
involved, Ombudsman decisions are immediately implemented by the administration.
But when favored officials are implicated, dismissal orders are ignored despite
black-and-white rules that say decisions are immediately executory despite the
pendency of MR’s,” Fortaleza explained.
He added “Is
there something being cooked at the NPO that corrupt and dismissed officials now
oversee the much-delayed ballot printing and remain in their posts under the
protection of Malacanang?”
“It is high
time to appoint new NPO officials with clean records of public service. Further,
the mandate of the NPO must be respected instead of its work outsourced to
private printing contractors,” Fortaleza ended.
February 18, 2016
