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[av_heading heading=’Supplier, DepEd settle on speech lab, but… ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – The Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Bacolod City and Nikka Trading had a “conciliation” over the city government’s speech laboratory project.
But City Schools Division Superintendent Cynthia Demavivas still does not find the equipment for 22 high schools acceptable.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod investigated the P40.8-million “K-12 Interactive Language Laboratory (Speech Lab)” project of the previous administration of then mayor Monico Puentevella.
It discovered that the Puentevella administration paid Nikka Trading, the supplier, even though the equipment were not completely installed.
Still, the city council urged DepEd-Bacolod City and Nikka Trading to come to terms. It said the issue between the two parties was “technical” — they were not in agreement with the type of equipment that should have been delivered.
The two parties settled their differences last week, according to Councilor Renecito Novero, committee on education chairman.
Novero said there was a need to “resolve the impasse on the interpretation of the specifications of the materials delivered,” so the city council recommended a conciliation.
Nikka Trading agreed to completely install all the equipment and provide a lifetime warranty for their software, he said.
In a radio interview, Demavivas stood her ground. She stressed she cannot accept the equipment because they were not what the schools were supposed to get.
But she confirmed the principals of the beneficiary high schools agreed to accept the equipment because the students needed them.
In July Demavivas said Nikka Trading delivered the “information technology” (IT) type when the DepEd asked for “analog” equipment.
Demavivas clarified she never indicated in the Purchase Request they were asking for IT-type equipment. She said this specification was in the Purchase Order, which the city mayor — at that time, Puentevella — signed.
Accepting the equipment, Demavivas said, was the principals’ discretion, not hers. After all, their schools were the end-users, and they were the ones who must sign the “document,” not her, she said.
She was referring to the Acknowledgment Receipt for Equipment (ARE), which former Bids and Awards Committee chair Jerome Solinap said Demavivas has refused to sign.
The principals may sign the ARE once the speech lab equipment are fully installed if Demavivas allows them, Solinap told Panay News.
In a letter to Puentevella on July 7, Demavivas said, “Nikka Trading failed to comply with the specifications we detailed in the purchase request.”
“Despite the recommendations submitted by our Information and Communication Technology officer and expert consultants,” the contractor “made no effort to address the issues we raised,” she said.
The computers from Nikka Trading were “substandard,” she said, citing the Intel Celeron brand microprocessors, which were “low-end and near-obsolete.”/PN
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