Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 20) — Officials from the Department of Education (DepEd) point fingers at each other as the Senate continues its investigation on the purchase of allegedly overpriced and outdated laptops.
In a hearing on Thursday, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Francis Tolentino scrutinized the exchanges in a group chat of a DepEd task force.
This includes officials involved in the department’s agreements with the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM), one of which is the purchase of laptops for teachers with a total budget of ₱2.4 billion.
A May 26 message showed that DepEd Usec. Annalyn Sevilla said DepEd Procurement Director Marc Bragado should be able to explain the delay in finalizing the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the procurement, when her office already obligated the amount in February.
“It would show here nagtagal ka almost 4 months wala pa yung MOA… Ito ba yung dahilan kaya ni-retroactive na lang yung MOA?” Tolentino asked DepEd Procurement Director Marc Bragado.
[Translation: It would show here that four months passed and there was still no MOA. Is this the reason why the MOA was retroactive?]
“Sa palagay ko po your honor, dahil mayroon po silang ino-obligate noong February eh alam po naman nilang lahat yan na April 30 lang nagkaroon ng agreement through meeting na magkakaroon ng separate MOA para sa ₱2.4 B[illion],” Bragado responded.
[Translation: I think so your honor because they already obligated in February but they knew it was only on April 30 that an agreement was made during a meeting that a separate MOA will be made for the ₱2.4 billion.]
However, Sevilla said the messages submitted were not complete. She noted there are parts of the conversation that were also from Bragado and they are in the process of retrieving such, including those he deleted.
Sevilla also noted they were able to obligate after receiving the necessary documents, namely the agency procurement request, authority to procure, approval of DBM for the modification and the approval of former Education Secretary Leonor Briones.
The DepEd finance head said she has no knowledge if there was indeed a signed MOA in February since she was not directly involved.
Sevilla added she was told amendments were being made on a MOA, indicating that an agreement already existed.
Tolentino asked Bragado if he took the initiative to correct the issue.
“Ako po’y sumusunod lamang po bilang secretariat ng PS-DBM task force. Ito po ay instructions nila sa akin na gawin,” Bragado said, adding he did as he was told because he feared being castigated or fired.
[Translation: I just followed instructions as secretariat of the PS-DBM task force]
“Kung ako po ang decision-maker, hindi ko po ito gagawin,” he added.
[Translation: If I were the decision-maker, I will not do it.]
However, Sevilla contradicted his statement.
“Contrary to what… Atty. Bragado is saying, yung pag-identify ng [the identification of] February did not come from us,” she noted.
Sevilla said as director of the procurement management service of DepeEd, Bragado is also in charge of the contract management division, which is responsible for all matters related to a MOA.
“I am more surprised that you are blaming now the undersecretary for finance and the DBM-PS task force on this kasi klaro po ang mandato ng ating mga opisina [because the mandates of our offices are clear],” she said.
CNN Philippines correspondent Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
