Graft charges were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) on Wednesday, June 2, against Education Undersecretary Alain Del B. Pascua, Caloocan City Mayor Oscar "Oca" Malapitan, two other city officials, and a private individual in the purchase of P320 million worth of smart tablets for use by public school students in 2020.

The complainants told the OMB that the smart tablets purchased “without public bidding” were allegedly overpriced and did not reportedly meet the minimum specifications required by the Department of Education (DepEd).

Aside from Pascua and Malapitan, also charged were City Treasurer Analiza Mendiola, Oliver R. Hernandez as chair of the bids and awards committee, and Annalou C. Pallarca, senior project officer of Cosmic Technologies, Inc. (COSMIC), the supplier of the smart tablets.

The complainants were Christopher R. Malonzo, Marylou N. San Buenaventura and Alexander V. Mangasar who told the OMB that the tablets were intended for the city’s public school students to help them in the transition from face-to-face classes to online learning due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

"On its face, it can be clearly inferred that the Technical Specifications proposed by the city government of Caloocan City do not meet the minimum Technical Specifications provided for... by the DepEd, through Undersecretary Respondent Pascua," the complainants said.

They claimed that despite the "glaring difference and the subpar technical specifications" proposed by the Caloocan City government, Pascua still issued a memorandum that the tablets meet all the requirements for providing distance learning for the students.

The complainants alleged that the chosen tablet brand – “Cherry Cosmos 7” -- was not even commercially available for sale in the market.

Based on their research, they claimed that there were other tablets from the same brand that meet the specifications of DepEd at a price that is 25 and 33 percent lower than those paid for by the city government.

"If respondent Malapitan bought the same number of units of “Cherry Mobile Superion S2+” under the procurement contract, it would amount to P239,125,554, and, thus, the city government would have saved a whopping amount of P79,579,226 from the City Annual Budget," they said.

They also told the OMB that they have repeatedly asked Malapitan to provide them with a copy of the contract with COSMIC, but, they said, the mayor failed to give them, including the detailed report of the distribution of tablets.

Thus, they said, Pascua, Malapitan, and the three other respondents in the complaint should be charged with violations of Section 3(g) of Republic Act No.3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in relation to Section 4 of RA 9184, the Government Procurement Reform Act.