A concerned citizen said he was able to acquire a laptop issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) from a surplus store in Mandaue City and at a bargain price.
According to him, he bought the laptop set for only Php 9,999 and the shop still has more than a hundred of the same exact model.
Moreover, he said that the laptop’s speaker has DepEd’s “Sulong EduKalidad” sticker. Even the packaging of the headset has DepEd’s slogan and project “Procurement of DCP Packages” markings.
Because of this, the Department of Education (DepEd) in Central Visayas has opened an investigation.
Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, regional director of DepEd, said they aimed to uncover how the laptop ended up in a local store when it should have been used by teachers for online teaching.
“We are conducting an investigation to check whether or not it really is for teachers in Central Visayas. We monitored those distributed to teachers and so far, all are in the custody of the recipients,” he told the Inquirer.
As such, Jimenez said it was possible that the laptops were stolen from another region.
“I appeal to those who bought the same laptops from the store to coordinate with us,” Jimenez said.
