DepEd Central Luzon director Vilma Labrador said a team she dispatched to various provinces found the armchairs, worth about P7 million, delivered to elementary schools not initially listed as beneficiaries.
"I must admit (there were) procedural lapses on the part of some DepEd personnel who merely checked on the intended school beneficiaries and concluded that the armchairs were not delivered at all," she said.
Labrador said the "missing" armchairs were merely diverted to other schools which had immediate need for them.
In a report last Nov. 5, the probe committee which Labrador commissioned said the supplier, MIC MAC Manufacturing Inc., had made "no deliveries" to at least four elementary schools in Guagua, Porac and Floridablanca towns, all in Pampanga.
The panel, headed by DepEd regional legal officer Mariza Gonzalez, said the company "intentionally falsified the signatures of 42 school principals/teachers in the Division of Pampanga and intentionally submitted (to the DepEd office) fake memorandum and delivery receipts."
"Apparently, the DepEd had no part in the alleged forgery and fake documents," Labrador said.
She said, however, that she would recommend to the DepEd central office the blacklisting of MIC MAC due to the alleged forgery, as recommended by the probe panel.
She said she has changed the composition of the DepEd regional office’s inspection and acceptance committee after the panel found "prima facie evidence (of) neglect of duty" for their having issued a certification that they had inspected and accepted the 9,871 armchairs "for the purpose of expediting the processing of documents necessary for payment."
Labrador said she herself had requested that armchairs be diverted to schools, such as in Bataan, which badly needed them.
She said newly built school buildings are normally in the priority list for the allocation of armchairs. "But there are times when the new buildings are still not fully used even when in other areas, a big number of pupils in one classroom do not have armchairs. In such cases, we immediately request that available armchairs be brought to the needy schools," she said.
Labrador said the DepEd still owes MIC MAC some P2 million for armchairs it had delivered to comply with unexpected requests of congressmen. — Ding Cervantes