Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21) — The Department of Education (DepEd) confirmed that the laptops it purchased were sold in a surplus store in Cebu, and said it is now working with authorities to arrest the culprits.
Reports of the sale of the gadgets surfaced in October last year amid the probe into the agency’s procurement of “overpriced” laptops for teachers, as flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The DepEd on Monday clarified that those sold in Cebu were part of its computerization program and were not among the COA-flagged ones purchased through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in 2021.
“The Department is now coordinating with relevant law enforcement agencies to apprehend the perpetrators,” it said in a statement.
The agency also said it welcomes the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee report that recommended the filing of graft and corruption charges over the laptop procurement deal between DepEd and PS-DBM. The DepEd is yet to receive an official copy of the report.
The Senate panel wants some former and present DepEd officials sued, along with former PS-DBM chief Lloyd Christopher Lao as the laptops were found to be overpriced by ₱979 million.
The DepEd said the filing of cases will be referred to the Office of the Solicitor General for evaluation and appropriate action.
