Ping bares DepEd textbook monopoly

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson urged the Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday to take a closer look at what he said was the monopoly of a publishing group in the government’s textbook procurement program.

Lacson wondered how the Vibal Group managed to corner contracts for DepEd’s textbook procurement program, especially those involving foreign loans.

He disclosed that from 1999 to 2004, publishing companies with the same officers and stockholders had a virtual monopoly of textbook procurement deals, cornering more than 75 percent of the contracts.

He said that the Vibal Group, Vibal Publishing and other corporations involved in the textbook projects of the government have the same directors, stockholders and officials, which only show that these companies belong to only one group of people.

According to Lacson, the group has been awarded 75.96 percent of the contracts for textbooks from 1999 to 2004 worth at least P2.6 billion.

"There’s a monopoly and there’s no competition. The quality of textbooks and our education will suffer," he said.

The DepEd is asking for a P2.064-billion budget for textbooks for 2007. If the monopoly is not addressed, Lacson said the Vibal group stands to corner some P1.5 billion in new textbook contracts.

If the DepEd will not act on the matter, the senator threatened to move for the deferment of the DepEd budget once the General Appropriations Act advances to the plenary level.

Only last month, Lacson said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) awarded almost P500 million in textbook contracts to two disqualified bidders.

Records from the DBM Procurement Service showed that the contracts involved the supply and delivery of textbooks and teachers’ manuals on Sibika Grades 1-3; Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika (HeKaSi) Grades 4-6; and Araling Panlipunan Years I-IV.

Lacson said the government awarded the contracts to Watana Phanit Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Vibal Publishing House Inc. and Daewoo International Corp. last Sept. 25.

Watana was awarded a contract to print 2.3 million Sibika 2 textbooks worth $1.8 million and 67,379 teachers’ manuals worth P433,095.95; two million HeKaSi 4 textbooks worth $1.9 million and 59,976 teachers’ manuals worth P379,767.80; and 1.5 million HeKaSi 5 textbooks worth $1.4 million and 44,068 teachers’ manuals worth P238, 759.25.

Vibal was awarded a contract to print 2.9 million Sibika I textbooks and 84,104 teachers’ manuals worth P133.2 million; 1.2 million Sibika 3 textbooks and 36,068 teachers’ manuals worth P53.9 million; and 500,466 HeKaSi 5 textbooks and 14,355 teachers’ manuals worth P21.6 million.

Daewoo, on the other hand, was awarded a contract to produce 952,804 Sibika 3 textbooks worth $791,590.28 and 7,311 teachers’ manuals worth P12.8 million.

However, as early as Feb. 28 this year, the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee had already disqualified Vibal and Watana from the bidding due to "conflict of interest."

Lacson also noted that Watana Phanit, SD Publishing, Alkem and JTW are all partners of the Vibal Group. He added that the World Bank "came to the rescue" of Vibal by choosing to disregard the violation.

Lacson filed Resolution 570 directing the Senate committee on education, arts and culture and the committee on accountability of public officers and investigations to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the matter.

"Each company of the Vibal Group bids for and against each other to create the appearance of competition and in collusion with each other... These are grounds for disqualification for clear violation of the Procurement Act and Bidding Guidelines. However, despite the antecedent violations, the companies of the V-Group have never been disqualified anent the obvious ground for their ineligibility," he said.

"This is a blatant and gross violation of procurement laws. Somebody definitely made money out of this deal and I am not talking about suppliers of the textbooks but of some people in government," he said.

DepEd budget up

As this developed, Sen. Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, has called for a P2.5-billion increase in the DepEd budget for 2007, specifically to address the need for new teachers and classrooms.

The increase will, however, contribute to the widening of the projected budget deficit from P63 billion to P65.5 billion.

Drilon said though that it will not have an adverse impact on the country’s fiscal position.

On average, Drilon said the budget of the DepEd goes up by as much as P3 billion a year. But even with the increase, the DepEd could only hire 10,000 teachers in 2007, out of the 16,390 teachers actually needed. He said he would push for the realigning of the P650 million intelligence fund of the Office of the President in order to finance the hiring of more teachers.

It was estimated that to hire 6,390 teachers, the DepEd needs at least P720 million.

Drilon also reiterated his call for the reduction of the cost of constructing classrooms, saying that non-government organizations such as the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCI) can build classrooms at half the cost of what the government normally pays.

The DepEd allocates P450,000 per classroom while the FFCCI can build s classroom for only P225,000.

Over and above the issue of classroom shortage, Drilon expressed alarm over the huge dropout rate across the country.

He said that for every 100 pupils who enter Grade 1, only 66 actually finish Grade 6, only 43 would eventually graduate from high school and only 14 would finish college.

He stressed that the problem is not only the quantity but also the quality of graduates. He said that the majority of those who graduate from Grade 6 would only have the competency of a Grade 4 student. — With Marvin Sy