BUY NEW laptops to replace the overpriced but slow ones?
The Department of Education is floating several solutions after the publication of the Commission on Audit’s observations on its purchase of laptops worth more than two billion pesos.
These laptops were bought at the height of the covid 19 pandemic when the education sector was hard pressed to meet the challenges of remote learning.
Yet it appears that some individuals or sectors would not hesitate to profit out of the nation’s collective misery.
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In June last year DepEd reportedly purchased 39,000 laptops for distribution to teachers. The amount of 2.4 billion pesos was defrayed for this big expense.
DepEd did not buy the laptops directly from the suppliers. It was the DBM procurement service (PS-DBM) that bought the items on behalf of DepEd.
To recall, PS-DBM became controversial in the run-up to this year’s elections because it was the procurement agent that the Department of Health utilized in buying pandemic supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceuticals.
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PS-DBM’s budget was around P58,000 per laptop. This was at least P23,000 more than the budget allocated by DepEd itself, which was approximately P35,000 per unit. The excess was 65% more than the original estimate of the specifications.
According to reports, the supply contract was awarded to the joint venture of LDLA Marketing and Trading, Inc., VSTECS (Philippines), Inc., and Sunwest Construction and Development Corp.
Had PS-DBM stuck to the original budgeted amount, and purchased laptops with the correct specifications, a lot more teachers would have been benefited, and communication between them, the DepEd and their students, would have been faster and more effective.
It was an utter waste of the people’s money.
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PS-DBM is currently the object of abolition moves, no thanks to the Pharmally controversy that exposed fraudulent procurement deals springing from the P40-bililon peso fund transferred from the DOH.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros is asking the Senate to again summon former Budget undersecretary Christopher Lao who used to lead PS-DBM.
Lao fled the public scene after defying a contempt citation from the Senate.
While he had already resigned when the laptop agreement was signed, Lao must still appear because of what Hontiveros calls a “repeat performance” by the PS-DBM. “It seems that there’s a ‘part two, part three’ of the previous acts and the name of Lao is being linked into this,” said Hontiveros.
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A Senate committee report made in February had recommended the filing of plunder and graft charges against Lao, Pharmally financier Michael Yang, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, plus other government officials and Pharmally executives.
Majority of the Senators did not sign the report because it included a recommendation to also institute charges against President Rodrigo Duterte upon the end of his term because of his failure to run after those responsible for the shady deals.
Lao was a Duterte appointee. He is a graduate of a law school in Davao and a member of Duterte’s fraternity.
Yang is known to be a close Duterte associate in Davao, enough to earn him a Malacanan business card despite being a foreigner.
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DepEd initially reacted by referring all questions on the laptop controversy to PS-DBM.
Lately, however, it appears to be meandering towards remedial measures that are calculated to mitigate the damage done by the previous administration.
DepEd is even contemplating the purchase of replacement devices even if its original budget for the contract was for the purchase of 68,500 units – or almost 30,000 units more than those bought by PS-DBM for a much higher price per unit.
PS-DBM had purchased laptops at lower prices and better specs before and after the DepEd laptop project. A typical college student would be a more capable shopper for the money.
We share the hope that Congress, being the protector of the public purse, will ultimately help bring light upon deals made in dark corners./PN
