‘This not only violates public trust but also deprives our basic education teachers of their right to government support,’ says Davao-based group Media Educators of Mindanao
MANILA, Philippines – A Mindanao-based education organization urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to take responsibility for the fire sale of laptops at the agency.
“We call on all parties involved, particularly the Department of Education, to take responsibility for this incident,” Davao-based Media Educators of Mindanao said in a statement released on Friday, May 12.
“We urge them to conduct a thorough education to determine how, why, and who among their ranks allowed this unfortunate incident to happen. It is crucial to hold accountable those who have violated the rights of the teachers and to ensure that such incidents will not happen again,” the group added.
The statement was in reaction to Rappler’s two-part investigation into how laptops meant for teachers, purchased by DepEd, ended up for sale in retail stores and online across the country.
The group slammed the illegal sale of DepEd laptops intended for public school teachers, saying, “This not only violates public trust but also deprives our basic education teachers of their right to government support.”
An education advocacy group called on the DepEd for greater transparency in the bidding process, and for Congress to amend the procurement law.
“Based on its initial engagement of DepEd procurement, MultiplY-Ed notes that there remain critical processes and offices that are not open to monitoring and information is selectively accessible,” MultiplY-Ed said in a press statement on Monday, May 8.
MultiplY-Ed said they began monitoring the procurement activities of DepEd, among other organizations, in 2022, a year after the P667-million logistics deal that led to the leakage of government-owned laptops was signed.
So far, the group said it has had difficulty requesting permission to observe bidding processes.
“In all the 11 procurement items monitored, X-Ed was only able to observe until the opening of bids, and the monitors were not given any additional information regarding the awarding of the contract and implementation afterward,” it said.
Of the processes that MultiplY-Ed was allowed to observe, 33% or seven out of 21 target offices responded to the group’s request to monitor procurement activities, “four of which were under DepEd.”
Section 13 of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act requires three observers to monitor the procurement process, including one from the Commission on Audit, one from the private sector and another from a nongovernment organization. The only requirement is that they do not have direct or indirect interest in the contract to be bid out and are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On Tuesday, May 9, the progressive Makabayan bloc filed a House resolution asking the good government committee to investigate the laptops issue.
“An investigation is important because our teachers badly need the laptops now. The DepEd was once tricked into procuring overpriced laptops, and now, corrupt individuals in DepEd are making a profit out of it,” ACT Teachers Representative France Castro said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Philippine Business for Education executive director Justine Raagas encouraged the decentralization of procurement processes.
“It is an issue on delivery – bringing down the laptops to where they are intended. PBed continues to call for better education governance by making sure the processes we have are stringent,” she said.
Aral Pilipinas lead convenor Regina Sibal told Rappler that “localized procurement” and letting the schools division offices procure their own supplies will cut the delivery time.
“Even before, this was also the same issue with textbooks. We have anecdotes of students receiving textbooks in the middle of the school year or even at the end. It is because of the centralized procurement,” Sibal said.
The first part of Rappler’s investigative series covered how negligence and apparent corruption at the DepEd under then-president Rodrigo Duterte caused the laptops intended for public school teachers to end up being sold in retail stores.
Part 2 exposed how the choice of Transpac as the winning bidder of a huge DepEd contract for logistics services to deliver laptops, among other school supplies, was detrimental to public interest. – Rappler.com