Lawmakers want VP accountable for P5.6 billion DepEd food wastage

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) under its former secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte, must be held responsible for “mismanaging” government resources and funds that led to the agency’s failure to deliver its P5.69-billion feeding program to public school students, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and administration lawmakers said yesterday.

The ACT emphasized that the lapses that led to the delivery of moldy, insect-infested nutribuns, rotting food items, unsanitary packaging, and mislabeled manufacturing and expiry details for the feeding program were a disservice to students from poor and marginalized communities relying on the government for quality nutrition.

“This is also a betrayal of service and waste of public funds. This clearly shows how VP Sara prioritized perpetrating state attacks and serving as mouthpiece of the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) instead of giving due attention to education as the (DepEd)’s head,” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said.

“The ACT join(s) the call for an investigation into major lapses, including blacklisting of erring suppliers and holding the previous DepEd administration accountable for gross failure and negligence, as issues continue to emerge during Congress’ budget deliberations,” Quetua added.

For the ACT chief, holding the previous administration accountable is crucial, as the instance had been the second time that the DepEd supposedly mismanaged and skimped on funds.

Representatives Jay Khonghun (Zambales 1st District) and Paolo Ortega (La Union 1st District), both leaders of the House’s “Young Guns” group, likewise said Duterte should address the “wasted food supplies” in the students’ feeding program in public schools across the country, as per the Commission on Audit (COA) report when she was still education secretary.

“She should not blame others for this; she might as well face the real and hard truth. The children should have benefitted from this program. Being the DepEd chief then, she should have made sure this program was fully implemented,” Khonghun said.

“It’s crystal clear that she is liable here based on the principle of command responsibility,” he added.

Ortega echoed the same concern, saying this goes beyond politics.

The COA report showed lapses in the 2023 DepEd feeding program, uncovering defective food items such as moldy, insect-infested nutribuns, rotting food and mislabeled packaging, depriving students in Aurora, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental, Iligan and Quezon City of essential nutrition.

For 2022, the COA found that out of 6.9 million target learners, only 5.3 million benefitted from the feeding program.

According to the 2022 audit report, the DepEd failed to distribute P82 million worth of food and milk due to delayed implementation, and P60.9 million worth of contracts were marred by lapses in the procurement process of pasteurized milk and nutritious food products, and P23 million in payments to suppliers were delayed.

The COA also found that some schools had distributed more than the required quantity to students while other food items were not distributed as scheduled.

State auditors also found some schools did not conduct feeding activities daily.

Aside from these, 21 division offices nationwide did not receive food products on time: Mandaluyong City, Pasig City, Ifugao, Baguio City, Benguet, La Union, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Camarines Sur, Zamboanga City, Bukidnon, Valencia City, Malaybalay, Tagum City, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Agusan del Norte, Butuan City, Cabadbaran City, Surigao City and Surigao del Norte.

“(The COA) reveal(ed) a stench of negligence, with expired, moldy and insect-infested food items being delivered to schools at a time when malnutrition is gnawing at our most vulnerable learners, directly affecting their performance in schools,” Quetua said.

The Program for International Student Assessment, in which the Philippines has been ranked among the bottom countries for two straight assessment years, highlighted the need to focus on the nutrition of students to help them maximize their abilities to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

Ortega pointed to the Marcos administration’s continued efforts to assist the poor and alleviate poverty, noting that Speaker Martin Romualdez has been instrumental in driving these initiatives forward.