DepEd chief Angara: Laptops, books stored for 4 years

Some 1.5 million units of laptops, books, and other equipment have been stored for four years at the warehouse of the Department of Education's logistics provider, Sec. Sonny Angara said on Monday.

According to Jonathan Andal's report on "24 Oras," Angara made the disclosure at a hearing of the DepEd's proposed budget for 2025 by the House Committee on Appropriations.

"Nagulat ako na four years old na pala yung mga gamit doon since 2020 pa po yung mga kagamitan doon," Angara said.

"So, we contacted the Air Force and others to help us remove... We're doing our best to get them out para hindi mag-deteriorate yung mga materyales," he added.

(I was surprised that the equipment is already four years old and has been stored there since 2020... We're doing our best to get them out so that the materials will not deteriorate.)

GMA News Online has sought comment from the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte, the former education secretary, but the OVP has yet to respond as of posting time.

Members of the House of Representatives called the attention of the DepEd as regards the slow utilization of its appropriations.

One of these is the P11 billion allocated for the DepEd's computerization in 2023. Only P2 billion of the allocation has been utilized.

The department's data indicated that the computer-to-teacher ratio now stands at 1 to 30.

Education Usec. Gina Gonong said the department had procurement issues.

"Nagfe-fail po ang bidding ng learning tools namin," Gonong told the committee. —NB, GMA Integrated News