Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III has sought on Thursday, Aug. 11 a full-blown Senate investigation into the alleged corruption-tainted purchase of P2.4 billion worth of ‘’outdated and overpriced’’ laptops for public school teachers.
In Senate Resolution (SR) 120 that he had filed, Pimentel asked the Senate leadership to direct the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to investigate the purchase made by Department of Education (DepEd) through the Procurement Service, Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) of the laptops.
In the past 18th Congress, the Blue Ribbon committee chaired by then-Senator Richard Gordon investigated the alleged overpriced purchase by PS-DBM of more than P10 billion worth of Covid-19 medical supplies and materials from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Pharmally’s paid up capital was more than P600,000, prompting then Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to suspect corruption.
Pimentel said a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) stated that the questionable purchase remained unliquidated at the end of 2021.
Like the Pharmally contract, the P2.4 billion fund for the laptops was transmitted by DepEd to PS-DBM. The Department of Health (DOH) had transmitted its fund for Covid-related purchases to PDS-DBM.
Pimentel wants to known why PS-DBM, with the concurrence of the DepEd, bought the older type laptops costing P58,300 each ‘’instead for the same specifications ’ following its advertisement on May 10, 2021.
DepEd’s Agency Procurement Report (APR) provided the price of only P35,046.50 for these, but the PS-DBM, after conducting its own market survey, recommended a unit price of P58,300.
‘’The huge difference of P23,253.50 per unit price resulted in significant decrease by 28,917 laptop computers, purportedly for distribution to intended recipient-teachers which could have helped them in performing their tasks in the blended learning set-up,’’ Pimentel said, citing a COA report.
The P58,300 per unit cost ‘’was without basis and in fact disadvantageous to the DepEd", the same report stated.
The questionable purchase resulted in the decrease in the number of beneficiaries from 68,500 to 39,583 public school teachers.
Pimentel expressed hope that the Senate inquiry, in aid of legislation, would identify accountability and make changes to existing procurement laws and processes, if found necessary.