DepEd continues to maintain its stance on its laptop deal, elaborating that the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) is the one in charge of the deal. In addition to that, former DepEd secretary Leonor Briones stated that without a final report from COA, it is not right to declare the overpriced laptop deal as anomalous.
“The DepEd believes that this matter needs to be resolved immediately, and we submit to the process as we commit to transparency and accountability – even if the issue only involves an audit observation memorandum, which requires the submission of documents to the COA,” DepEd said in a statement last August 8. “The DepEd believes that it is not right to declare that the contract was anomalous without a final report by the COA, much less findings from the ombudsman.”
To recall, the controversial DepEd laptop deal was called out by ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, where the Php 2.7 billion deal has an initial per unit cost of Php 35,,046.50 before it ballooned to Php 58,300 as per the recommendation of PS-DBM. This resulted in the deal only able to acquire 39,583 laptops instead of 68,500 laptops as originally planned.
Briones also sent a statement that her only involvement was the signing the MOA between the PS-DBM and DepEd, and that the former “had full control over the procurement, including pricing and item specifications.”
“In short, DepEd had no hand in the canvassing, bidding and actual procurement whatsoever,” she added,” Briones added.
