EDITORIAL — Waiting for abolition

A day after several officials of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management were sacked by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with three of the multibillion-peso supply contracts awarded to Pharmally Pharmaceuticals, several PS-DBM officials were suspended yesterday. This time, the sanction is over the procurement of laptops for public school teachers that have been described as overpriced and outdated.

Lloyd Christopher Lao, who headed the PS-DBM at the time of the anomalies but has since resigned, is covered by the preventive suspension order along with other officials of the agency: former director and officer-in-charge Jasonmer Uayan as well as procurement management officers Ulysses Mora, Marwin Amil and Paul Armand Estrada.

Also suspended were officials of the Department of Education at the time of the deal: Undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla and undersecretary for procurement Alain Del Pascua, Sevilla’s executive assistant Alec Ladanga, assistant secretary for procurement Salvador Malana III, procurement management service director Marcelo Bragado, supervising administrative officer Selwyn Briones and the director of ICT services Abram Abanil. Only Sevilla is still with DepEd.

The charges stemmed from a report of the Commission on Audit on the P2.4-billion Laptops for Teachers project, which was meant for the shift to distance learning at the height of the COVID lockdowns. The DepEd had quoted a budget of P35,046.50 per entry-level laptop and tossed the procurement to the PS-DBM. Instead the PS-DBM procured laptops for P58,300 each. As a result, the COA said 28,917 teachers were deprived of laptops, with only 39,583 receiving the gadgets that they needed for blended learning. Also, despite the higher price tag, the laptops reportedly had “outdated” Intel Celeron processors that proved too slow for online learning.

The multibillion-peso scandals should reinforce efforts to dismantle the PS-DBM. Agencies typically assign their procurement of common-use supplies and equipment to the PS-DBM, to save on work and also because some offices reportedly lack the expertise for the purchases. In this country where corruption is entrenched, however, concentrating procurement functions in a single agency is a bad idea. A better alternative is to assist agencies in developing the capability to procure their own common-use supplies and equipment.

Last year, amid the scandals, the PS-DBM had indefinitely suspended its procurement of such supplies, but has appealed to retain the function. It should just craft various templates for DIY speedy and aboveboard procurements, which government agencies can follow with ease. Lawmakers must not waver in their push to abolish the PS-DBM.