DepEd files cases vs few execs in shady deals

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) has filed only a few of administrative cases against its executives that have been implicated in shady purchase deals for school materials and equipment.

Education Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Franklin Sunga, in a press briefing yesterday to discuss the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) on DepEd’s operations for 2007, said only a few division heads and regional directors are currently under probe for supposed questionable transactions undertaken by their respective division and regional offices.

“We are investigating one regional director. And at least one division head,” Sunga told reporters when asked on the number of DepEd executives that are in “hot water” for anomalies in their jurisdiction.

Sunga said DepEd is still in the process of checking out the cases of highly irregular procurement transactions for defective information technology equipment and multi-media packages, school desks and chairs, textbooks and other school items detected by COA in their audit of DepEd in 2007 and in previous years.

“We’re still validating them now,” Sunga said. “The (Education) Secretary (Jesli Lapus) is very keen on this, that these should be validated.”

It will be recalled that DepEd auditors, in their audit of DepEd’s operations and transactions in 2007 and previous years, have continually discovered numerous questionable and overpriced transactions conducted by division offices of DepEd for the purchase of computers, textbooks, and other items and equipment.

In their latest audit report for 2007, COA found that P667.9 million worth of computers and multi-media packages procured by a number of DepEd division officials were underutilized, if not totally unused, in public schools all over the country due to being defective, or the inability of beneficiary schools to use them due to the lack of computer laboratories, computer-literate teachers, and in some cases, electricity.

“(They) were not used for classroom instruction... They were either unnecessarily stored, some of which were still in unopened boxes for six years; defective; utilized for administrative purposes; or transferred to a state college,” COA said.

DepEd auditors noted that a majority of the P667.95 million worth of unused or underused computers were bought using the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of congressmen and senators. – Rainier Allan Ronda