MANILA — A senator questioned Thursday why the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) bid out laptops and bags at the same time instead of separately.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who is vice chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, likened the setup to buying donuts and soft drinks, which he said should have had different suppliers.

"If you look at the computer suppliers, hindi lahat gumagawa ng bag. That is the one of the oldest tricks in the book," he said at the Senate hearing on the procurement of allegedly overpriced and slow laptops.

(Not all computer suppliers make bags.)

Such scheme will result in some computer manufacturers abstaining from the bidding while joint ventures come in to supply both items simultaneously, Cayetano said.

In its 2021 audit report on the DepEd, the COA flagged the purchase of P2.4 billion worth of laptops, which were deemed overpriced and "too slow" because of "outdated" processors.

The DepEd initially gave an estimate cost of P35,046 per laptop but later accepted the PS-DBM's pricing at P58,300, according to the COA report.

The higher price resulted in fewer beneficiaries, from 68,500 down to 39,583 teachers.

• DepEd asks COA for fraud audit over 'pricey, outdated' laptops

The joint venture of Sunwest Construction and Development Corp. and LDLA Marketing & Trading, Inc. earlier said the laptops it supplied DepEd met technical specifications.

At the hearing, Abram Abanil, who oversees the information and communications technology service at the DepEd, said the agency asked the DBM to bid for both supplies.

"In all our projects with regards to computers, laging may kasamang bag (they always came with bags)," he said.

PS-DBM engineer Marwan Amil confirmed that the technical specifications had been requested in the quotation form.

Cayetano asked Amil if he hadn’t wondered why big suppliers did not join the bidding, to which Amil answered that he only had the statement of compliance as basis.

"Common sense kung mag-e-email ako sa manufacturer ng computer ang package natin ay may bag, hindi naman sila gumagawa ng bag, bakit naman sila sasali," Cayetano said.

(It's common sense that if I e-mail computer suppliers that our package should have a bag and they don't make bags, why would they join?)

Amil replied, "Specific po kasi ‘yong email na sine-send."

(The email sent is specific.)

"Yes, specifically non-commonsensical. Kung ako supplier ng donut at i-email mo ako na, ‘Sir, ito ‘yong bi-bid namin—donut at soft drinks’, sasagutin ba kita na kaya namin mag-bid? O sasabihin ko, ‘I cannot comply’?" Cayetano said.

(If I were a supplier of donut and you email me, 'Sir, we're bidding out donut and soft drinks.' Will I tell you that we can join? Or will I say, 'I cannot comply'?)

"Paano nyo sasabihin sa committee na ito na hindi kami maghihinala na mayroong sindikato dito na nag-aayos niyan, kung sa ABC (Awards and Bids Committee) pa lang at doon pa lang sa pre-bid at sa package halata nang naka-pattern ito, na ma-minimize kung sino pwede sumali dito. I’m not saying you did it," he added.

(How can you explain it to this committee without leading us to suspect that there's a syndicate fixing that, when at the ABS and the pre-bid and the package, there is already a pattern minimizing who could join.)

• PS-DBM vows to address issue on DepEd's 'outdated,' 'pricey' laptops

In a press conference after the hearing, Cayetano said he did not oppose the inclusion of the bags in the laptop procurement.

However, the products were not "organic" with each other and should not have been bid as a package, he said.

"I’m very sure it’s honest corruption," Cayetano said of his assessment on the deal.

But he said the PS-DBM does not need to be abolished, as some other lawmakers have called for.

Instead, those responsible for problematic purchases should be made accountable since the procurement office had a good record during previous administrations, Cayetano said.

Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Sen. Francis Tolentino said the next stage of the probe on the laptops purchase would call on the joint venture suppliers and other suppliers who failed to secure the bid.

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC