Graft, perjury charges recommended vs. DepEd, PS-DBM execs over laptop deal

A Senate panel is recommending graft and perjury charges against some former and current officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM) over the "highly irregular" laptop procurement project in 2021.

In its report released on Thursday, the Senate blue ribbon committee recommended the following charges against the following former and current officials:

*One count of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against (causing undue injury to the government):

• Former DepEd Undersecretary Alain del B. Pascua
• DepEd Undersecretary Annalyn M. Sevilla
• Former  DepEd Assistant Secretary Salvador C. Malana III
• Director Abram Y.C. Abanil
• Former PS-DBM OIC Executive Director Lloyd Christopher Lao
• Former PS-DBM OIC Executive Director Jasonmer L. Uayan
• Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Chairman Ulysses E. Mora as well as the other members of the Special Bids and Awards Committee I and SBAC technical working group and Secretariat, whether from Deped or PS-DBM.
• Engr. Marwan O. Amil

*One count of violation of Section 3(g) of RA 3019 against Pascua, Sevilla, Malana, Lao, Uayan, Mora, and other SBAC officers and secretariat. 

The charge was also recommended against principals, representatives and/or agents of the Joint Venture consortium partners or other private parties "who may have colluded and/or conspired'' as supported by competent evidence with aforementioned officials. 

*Falsification of Public Document by a Public Official under Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code against Sevilla, former Executive Assistant Alec Ladanga;

*One count of violation of Section 3(a) of RA 3019 against Sevilla and Ladanga. The section states that it is "unlawful for any person having family or close personal relation with any public official to capitalize or exploit or take advantage of such family or close personal relation by directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any present, gift or material or pecuniary advantage from any other person."

*Multiple counts of perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code against Sevilla, Pascua, Malana, Lao, and Uayan.

Apart from the filing of criminal charges, the Senate panel also suggested administrative and disciplinary investigations for multiple counts of Grave Misconduct, Serious Dishonesty, Gross Neglect of Duty, and Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service against the DepEd and PS-DBM officials mentioned in the report.

While it recommended charges against several top DepEd officials, the Senate panel absolved former DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones with Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Francis Tolentino saying: "Nagamit siya."

"In the mind of the Committee, this was clearly a ploy to downplay the adjustments which would have alerted Secretary Briones to direct a full review of the supporting documents, seek further advice, and/or withhold approval. With the adjustments-- which were critical and important-- albeit effectively disguised, Secretary Briones may have unwittingly approved the new parameters which increased the unit price and decreased the quantity of laptops to be purchased," the report read.

Overpricing

Further, the Senate panel found that the contract for the supply and delivery of laptop computers for pubic school teachers was overpriced by at least P979 million.

"There is sufficient basis to believe that there was a conspiracy to  facilitate and/or generate an overprice which indicates manifest  partiality, evident bad faith, and/or gross inexcusable neglect on the  part of senior officials and staff of the DepEd and the PS-DBM. While  they may seemingly act separately, concerted acts were evident to  create an opportunity for favored bidders to submit bloated and  excessive bids leading to an overprice in the purchase of the laptops," the report read.

Thus, it recommended the recovery of the P979 million "as proceeds of corruption" and the actual recovered money will be placed in a special National Teachers trust Fund to support the health and medical needs of public school teachers and the educational needs of their children through a special scholarship program.

The Senate panel also suggested to the Commission on Audit the issuance of Notices of Disallowance against Sevilla, Pascua and Malana for the overprice in the purchase of laptops amounting to at least P979 million.

Civil complaints on the basis of Presidential Decree 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines were likewise recommended against Sevilla, Pascua, Malana, Lao, Uayan, and other DepEd and Ps-DBM officials that will be found responsible for the use of government funds.

The Senate committee also tagged the "repeated changes" by DepEd in the use and allocation of the P2.4 billion from tablets to mobile connectivity leads for students, and then to laptops for teachers as "highly arbitrary, unjustified, improper, and not beneficial to DepEd teachers and students."

Recommendations

The other recommendations that the Senate blue ribbon panel included in its report are:

• Abolition of PS-DBM
• Require government departments, agencies, offices, including the government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges and local government units to conduct their own procurement as an exercise of fiduciary duty to be accountable for public funds appropriated for their respected offices
• Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act to provide for transparency and accountability  requirements for joint venture entities or arrangements participating in  public biddings and to provide for transparency and accountability  safeguards during the planning and pre-bidding stages of public  procurement, including but not limited to the setting of the Approved Budget for the Contract and  technical specifications or goods, services or infrastructure to be  procured
• Immediate conduct of a Special Fraud Audit by the Commission on Audit
• An investigation by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on the overpriced procurement, including an inquiry into bank deposits of the public officials identified in the investigation
• Special Tax Compliance Audit or a tax fraud audit inquiry to determine whether the proper taxes were paid on the income of the Joint Venture consortium partners

Out of the 20 members of the committee, the following senators have signed the report: Tolentino, Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go (with reservations), Sherwin Gatchalian, Jinggoy Estrada (dissent), Imee Marcos, Raffy Tulfo, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros (to interpellate), Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel (to interpellate).

DepEd to cooperate

Commenting on the Senate panel's findings, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said the agency will cooperate with any proceedings that will ensue and provide documentation as needed.

However, Poa said that it would be best to direct queries on the charges filed against several DepEd officials as these are their personal liabilities.

"Perhaps that will be something that will be considered by the Ombudsman. We will monitor and of course DepEd will always cooperate," Poa told reporters in a virtual press conference.

"Kung meron mang proceedings that are going to take place in terms of if they need documentation on the side of DepEd, we will definitely cooperate with the process."

While admitting that DepEd has not yet received the full copy of the report, Poa said they will also "seriously consider" the findings and recommendations by the Senate panel to ensure that the DepEd's procurement process will be efficient and transparent.

"We will definitely consider those recommendations and findings so that we can also strengthen our internal controls in terms of procurement in DepEd," Poa said, adding he has not yet gotten in touch with Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to discuss the matter.

"We will seek guidance from the Vice President and Secretary of the Department of Education how we will proceed with that," he said.

GMA News Online has already reached out to Lao for his comment but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

Blue ribbon probe

In August 2022, the blue ribbon committee launched its investigation into DepEd's purchase of "outdated and pricey" laptops through PS-DBM.

The probe focused on the memorandum of agreement (MOA) used for the procurement and the bidding process that the PS-DBM and the DepEd conducted.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian earlier tagged the laptop procurement deal as "defective" after a DepEd official testified that the MOA was signed only after the invitation to bid was posted and the quotation for the laptops was requested.

In its 2021 annual audit report, the Commission on Audit flagged DepEd for purchasing more expensive laptops than the ones indicated in their budget, which resulted in the procurement of fewer units, depriving over 28,000 teachers of the benefit.  —with Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News