Tolentino: Blue Ribbon will continue to seek for 'truth' in alleged overpriced laptop deal

Senator Francis Tolentino said the blue ribbon committee will continue to perform its duty and help in seeking out the truth on the alleged overpriced laptop deal during the Duterte administration.

This comes after the Office of the Ombudsman placed 12 Department of Education (DepEd)  and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officials under six-month preventive suspension without pay for the said deal.

"Ang Order ng Ombudsman sa Case No. 23-0091 ay nagpapatunay na tama ang ginawa at naging direksyon ng Senate Blue Ribbon Committee na naglabas ng 297 pages na report ukol sa controversial 2.4 billion laptop deal," said Tolentino in a statement sent to reporters. 

In an 11-page resolution, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said his office found sufficient grounds to preventively suspend for grave misconduct, serious  dishonesty, and gross neglect of duty on the DepEd and DBM officials involved.

Among those suspended were former Department of Budget and Management undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, DepEd Undersecretaries Annalyn Sevilla, and Alain del Pascua.

Tolentino said that the basis for the Ombudsman's order was the blue ribbon report which was released earlier this year. 

"Ang naging basehan ng desisyon ng Ombudsman ay ang Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Report na unanimously approved ng Senado,"  Tolentino said.

"Nagpapatunay po na hindi nasayang ang ginawang hearings ng Blue Ribbon na lumalabas na Complainant on record sa kasong dinidinig mg Ombudsman upang makamtan ang hustisya, managot ang may sala at maabolish ang PS-DBM," Tolentino added. 

The anti-graft body cited the Commission on Audit's findings wherein it could not ascertain the DBM's basis for adopting the P58,300 unit price per laptop in its recommended Approved Budget of Contract,  an amount accepted by the DepEd.

COA also noted that the 68,500 laptops supposed to be procured was significantly reduced to 39,583 due to the huge increase in estimated cost from P35,046.50 based on DepEd's submission of Agency Procurement Request. —VAL, GMA Integrated News