If it can be recalled, DOH was called out by the Commission On Audit because of “various deficiencies”. Among these anomalies include a public bidding document that revealed a Php 700,000 costing for four “High-end 2-in-1 Laptops”. That amounts to Php 175,000 per laptop–or roughly the price tag of a high-end gaming laptop.

The said laptop procurement from DOH created a stir over social media, questioning how they have come u with such an amount when one can buy a functional laptop for office work for roughly Php 50k.

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The public bidding document was met with backlash from Filipinos, which prompted DOH to halt the controversial laptop procurement. “The transaction was put on hold pending further market study,” Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said in an online press conference addressing the controversial public document.

In the same press conference, Vega explained that the laptops are meant “for the use of the knowledge management and information technology” team of the DOH.

This is not the first time that a government agency was called out for its ridiculous cost allocation for laptops. Last year, Philhealth was called out by the Senate after it allegedly approved the purchase of a laptop set valued at Php 115.32 million.

In the investigation, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) spotted several suspicious cost allocations that include Php 21 million for “Adobe Master Collection software”–which is non-existent as Adobe has shifted to its Creative Cloud subscription program for years, and another Php 21 million for “office productivity software.