BAGUIO CITY – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is offering cash rewards to whoever can provide vital information on alleged illegal activities of the agency’s officials and personnel to help prosecute those involved in anomalous and clandestine activities that compromise the integrity of the agency.
TESDA Director-General Guiling Mamondiong said the agency is offering a minimum cash reward of P50,000 to the tipsters of erring agency officials and employees to help empower the public in assisting in the government’s intensified anti-corruption campaign and rid the agency of corrupt personnel.
“The bounty to be offered to the tipsters will depend on the gravity of the offense committed by the agency officials and personnel. We will not tolerate the illegal activities of our officials and personnel who want to enrich themselves at the expense of the services of the agency,”Mamondiong stressed.
The TESDA Secretary revealed he already started talking to officials and personnel who have pending cases before the Ombudsman for them to resign and many of those involved in graft cases already voluntarily resigned from the agency.
According to him, he had been receiving reports over the past several years on the involvement of erring TESDA officials and employees in illegal activities and transactions with technical-vocationaleducation institutions in relation to alleged ghost scholars but he corrected these when he assumed office a few months ago.
He claimed informants must be able to provide the agency with sufficient pieces of evidence to support their allegations.
Mamondiong warned TESDA officials and employees who continue to be involved in illegal activities that compromise the programs and projects of the agency to stop their activities or else face stringent penalties once their illegal activities will be uncovered.
He explained the tipsters will outrightly receive whatever cash reward once the agency will establish that their testimonies and pieces of evidence are substantial to prosecute the pinpointed erring officials and employees involved in graft and corrupt practices.
Mamondiongclaimed the cash reward offered to tipsters could increase depending on the assessment of the agency on the extent of the corruption activities involving the identified TESDA officials and employees. He exhorted agency officials and employees to be satisfied with whatever compensation they are receiving from the government, he warned that cheating the government through fraudulent activities warrants dismissal.
By Dexter A. See
