Noodle scam probe to proceed

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman will proceed with its investigation into the aborted plan of the Department of Education to purchase P427 million worth of allegedly overpriced noodles for public school students, despite the decision of DepEd officials to cancel the contract with a private supplier.

Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni said the probe would determine if the supplier was given undue advantage in bagging the multimillion-peso contract.

He explained that the DepEd’s decision not to implement its food for schools program for 2009 merely takes away the possibility of causing injury to the government due to the misuse of public funds.

Jalandoni told The STAR that Jeverps Manufacturing has been DepEd’s noodles supplier since October 2007, with the very first contract amounting to P284 million.

Jalandoni said the Office of the Ombudsman would look into previous contracts, also involving the purchase of noodles for students, to determine if there were anomalies in the bidding and awarding of contracts.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced on Wednesday the cancellation of the P427-million contract to the lone bidder of instant noodles fortified with fresh eggs and malunggay for school year 2009-2010, noting that a new bidding for the contract will be held.

Jalandoni said the Office of the Ombudsman started an investigation into the issue through its General Investigation Bureau (GIB) under the Field Investigation Office (FIO), which he heads.

He said the agency started the probe after Dennis Quido, sales manager of government contractor Kolonwel Trading, exposed the questionable contract.

Jalandoni has tasked FIO-GIB chief, Director Silvestro Manuel, to lead the probe and head a team of graft investigators from his office.

A televised public hearing conducted by the Senate education committee chaired by Sen. Manuel Roxas II on the alleged anomalous procurement by DepEd of the fortified noodles in 2008 and 2009 showed an overprice in the noodles and freight fees charged by Jeverps to distribute the food items to public elementary schools in 13 food-poor provinces.

Also questioned was Jeverps’ consistent bagging of the noodle supply contracts for the last five years.

In the past two hearings, the Senate education committee found that P285 million was spent in 2007, another P61 million for a repeat order last year, and P427 million for the same project this year.

There were six deals, including a repeat order, amounting to roughly P750 million, with only one bidder over five years, Roxas noted.

Lapus had been questioned earlier over his mere deferment of the anomalous procurement of the P427-million procurement for 2009.

The questionable noodle supply deals were exposed by Dennis Quido, sales manager of government contractor Kolonwel Trading, who said that the DepEd’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), headed by Undersecretary for Finance and Administration Teodosio Sangil Jr., had violated terms of reference for the fortified noodles supposed to be supplied to public schools under the Food for Schools Program.

The fortified noodles delivered by Jeverps were reportedly without fresh eggs in the soup servings, Quido claimed.