The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General/Secretary Guiling “Gene” Mamondiong met personally with all the agency’s Regional Directors (RDs) and Provincial Directors (PDs)/District Directors (DDs) in four separate forums to reiterate his earlier marching orders and insist for tougher observance of anti-corruption measures, particularly in the implementation of scholarship programs.

The meetings were held from August 31 to September 8, 2018 in Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Taguig City and Iloilo City.


This after findings from the Commission on Audit (COA) report revealed anomalies in some of the technical vocational institutions implementing scholarship programs of TESDA in 2015 and 2016.  While these have already been clarified and resolved, Mamondiong, during the special meetings, said that the integrity of TESDA should be preserved and diligently guarded.
“I cannot do it alone, I need your help,” stressed the TESDA top official.

Among the instructions he gave in all these meetings include appealing to the RDs, PDs and DDs to make certain that they never be involved in any illegal activities. 
“I will not tolerate any form of corruption, not under my watch,” he said further.

It can be recalled, that since he took the helm in 2016 he has set in place strong anti-graft and corruption measures, such as the national technical audit that led to the closure of 177 technical-vocational institutes (TVIs) last year, announcing a cash reward of P50,000 for whistleblowers against graft and corruption, and putting in place the TESDA Efficiency and Integrity Development Board that will push for transparency in all government transactions, among others.

He also instructed the directors to continuously conduct monitoring and validation of scholarship programs.  He added that at the national level, the inspectorate group is already in motion doing validation and spot checks of ongoing scholarship programs.  
“I am expecting that before the end of September, they will give me their findings and reports,” Mamondiong said.
Lastly, he told them that the absorptive capacities of technical vocational institutions and training centers including farm schools should always be checked and monitored.