The issue of overpriced laptops bought by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) during the Duterte administration has evoked anger and criticisms from the public against the government officials involved.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee now headed by Sen. Francis Tolentino followed through from the previous work of the same committee then headed by senator Richard Gordon, and successfully dug up the details of the P2.4-billion slow and overpriced laptops for public school teachers. These laptops would have been used by the teachers in their hybrid instruction program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After several public hearings, Tolentino’s panel found out that the Dell Latitude 3420 BTX laptops supplied to teachers cost around P27,000 per piece from its source in China but was bought by Procurement Service of the DBM (PS-DBM) and the DepEd for about P58,300 or a markup of nearly 50 percent.
‘The actions taken by the Senate panel and the Ombudsman on the pricey laptops scandal are noteworthy but consist only of the initial part in the people’s long journey towards achieving justice and punishing the perpetrators…’
Last August 25, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of some government officials tagged in the overpriced laptop scandal. In a resolution, Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the suspension of the following, under the rules of procedure of the Ombudsman: DepEd Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla; Alain Del Pascua, former DepEd undersecretary; Lloyd Christopher Lao, PS-DBM chief; Salvador Malana III, former DepEd assistant secretary; Abram Abanil, director of DepEd information and communications technology services, designated ad hoc member on the special bids and awards committee for the “Laptop for Teachers” project; Jasonmer Uayan, former PS-DBM chief; Ulysses Mora, PS-DBM procurement management officer; Marwan Amil, PS-DBM procurement management officer; Alec Ladanga, executive assistant at Sevilla’s office; Marcelo Bragado, director at DepEd’s procurement management office; Selwyn Briones, DepEd employee, and Paul Armand Estrada, PS-DBM procurement management officer.
The Ombudsman explained that it found sufficient grounds to suspend the officials considering that there is strong evidence showing their guilt. The 12 officials and employees were placed under preventive suspension until the administrative process of their case is terminated. The suspension will not exceed six months, but the officials will not receive their pay during the said duration, “except when the delay in the disposition of the case is due to their fault, negligence or petition.”
Reacting to the Ombudsman’s action on Case No. 23-0091, Senator Tolentino said this is a “welcome development in our collective goal to promote good governance and hold to account those who choose to betray public trust.”
He said the decision is consistent with the recommendations they made in the 197-page committee report of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee concerning the controversial P2.4-billion laptop deal.
The actions taken by the Senate panel and the Ombudsman on the pricey laptops scandal are noteworthy but consist only of the initial part in the people’s long journey towards achieving justice and punishing the perpetrators, who have left the government and for all you know, the country, too, taking with them their loot.
