Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the PS-DBM must be immediately abolished given the string of corruption scandals it has been involved in over the last three years amounting to billions of pesos.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III speaks during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the procurement of laptop for public school teachers on Aug. 25, 2022. Photo by Mong Pintolo, The Philippine STAR
“Moving forward, beyond the filing of charges, it is also important to plug the holes through which these anomalies passed, not only with the laptops but also Pharmally and others,” Hontiveros said, referring to the alleged irregular procurement of overpriced face masks, face shields and other COVID-19 supplies from supposedly favored companies, including Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
“We’re really focusing on strengthening the procurement within DepEd. That’s particularly why we created a strand dedicated to just procurement. Be-fore, it was just a service, an office within a bigger strand,” Poa said in a mix of English and Filipino. In its report, the Blue Ribbon committee recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against former and current budget and education officials for allegedly conspiring in the purchase of overpriced laptops for teachers.
“We in TDC continue to seek an audience with the DepEd to help formulate policies and to rationalize existing protocols with the aim of preventing similar occurrences in the future from ever derailing the country’s education goals again,” Basas said.
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