LIVE: Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on 'pricey' DepEd laptops — Day 2
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is set to hold its second hearing on the overpriced laptop orders by the Department of Education that were flagged by the Commission on Audit.
To recall, state auditors have flagged the P2.4-billion deal for laptops that the Department of Education bought through the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service. Auditors said the laptops were too expensive and outdated.
It was the procurement service of the Department of Budget and Management that handled the transaction for the DepEd — the same government agency behind the questionable pandemic deals with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
Senators in the first hearing established that the laptops originally cost P35,000 per the price agreed to by the DepEd before the PS-DBM conducted its preliminary market survey.
But the final price tag in the Approved Budget Contract was eventually listed at P58,000 per unit, good for a 66 percent increase.
Ahead of the hearings, committee chair Sen. Francis Tolentino told reporters the inquiry would largely zone in on the bidding and procurement process that went into the laptops.
Watch the Senate inquiry LIVE, which will start at 9 a.m. on Thursday, September 8, 2022.
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