Senators grill DepEd execs over 2 procurement documents

Members of the Senate blue ribbon committee on Thursday grilled Department of Education (DepEd) officials over alleged irregularities in the two documents authorizing the 2021 procurement of laptops that were supposedly overpriced.

During the resumption of the hearing on the subject, Senator JV Ejercito said the first authority to procure (APR) indicated a total of 68,500 units with an estimated cost while the second one indicated only 39,583 units.

Ejercito said the first APR held the initials of Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla.

“Bakit malaki ‘yung disparity? ‘Yung una 68,500. Pangalawa, 39,000 na lang. And ‘yung sa second, walang initial si Usec. Sevilla,” the senator asked.

(Why is the disparity so big? The first one is 68,500. The second is only at 39,000. And the second one has no initials of Undersecretary Sevilla.)

DepEd Undersecretary Alain Padua confirmed his initials on both documents. When asked why there were two copies, he said the second purchase request had a new number of identified laptops.

“Because the previous one, the quantity of laptops there was computed on the basis of the prevailing market price of the time. And since we already have a new market survey coming from the PS-DBM and they have set the ceiling for the allowable budget ceiling, then the quantity of the project already changed so the need for another APR or purchase request,” he said, referring to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management.

However, Ejercito stressed that Sevilla’s initials were no longer in the second document.

For her part, Sevilla said the second APR may not have gone through her office.

“Ito po ‘yung intindi ko dito. The first one dated December 2020 was submitted to our office. That’s the reason why ito po ay na-record natin at na-initial ano natin,” she said.

(From my understanding, the first one dated December 2020 was submitted to our office. That’s the reason why it was recorded and why it has my initials.)

“But the other document presented… I would presume hindi po iyon nadaan sa opisina namin because otherwise meron po akong comment diyan or maybe a note that this is not okay to be signed or anything. But ngayon ko po nakita yung document,” she added.

(But the other document presented… I would presume this did not pass through our office because otherwise, I would have a comment there or maybe a note that this is not okay to be signed or anything. But I only saw the document now.)

Ejercito expressed concern that the second document may not have been reviewed before getting signed by then-Education Secretary Leonor Briones as it did not contain Sevilla's initials.

“These are two documents but the same. Parehong purchase request. Dapat ho standard dadaan muna sa office niyo. Yun lang ang inaano ko, the absence of the initials on review. So baka ‘yung pangalawa hindi na-review before the signature of Secretary Briones,” he said.

(These are two documents but the same. Both purchase requests should have gone through your office as per the standard procedure. That’s my concern, the absence of the initials on the review. Maybe the second one was not reviewed before it got the signature of Secretary Briones.)

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked Padua why the estimated unit cost was hidden in the second document.

“Bakit po ganito [why is it like this]? It was so defectively accomplished. Can you explain, sir, because your signature appears on the document,” Pimentel asked Padua.

Padua said the document was prepared by the Technology Infrastructure Division of the ICT Services.

“When they submitted this, they already based the lots one, two, three, and four quantity details already coming from another document. Presumably coming from the PS-DBM side because they are the ones who defined the lots,” Padua said. —KBK, GMA News