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Tolentino: DepEd laptops were overpriced, but too early to say if collusion happened

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Sherrie Ann Torres, ABS-CBN News

Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Senator Francis Tolentino said that to say that the PS-DBM (Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management) and Department of Education colluded on the allegedly overpriced yet outdated laptops is still too early to say.“Kasi pag sinabi mong may collusion baka hindi na um-attend yung mga yun (resource persons from PS-DBM and DepEd). The presumption is good faith,” Tolentino told reporters in a news briefing Wednesday night.But when asked if the committee has already established that laptops procured by the PS-DBM for Education were indeed overpriced, Tolentino answered: “Of course, of course.”“From P35,000 to P58,000 plus-plus, malaki yung difference oo. Lalabas yun paglabas natin sa established facts. Paglabas nun, eto yung presyo, eto yung naging presyo ng binili, lumiit yung bilang ng recipients,” Tolentino said.Among the targets of their panel is to also establish if there was really a “kickback” and who benefitted.But the investigation should be done carefully so that they will not miss anything.Tolentino, meanwhile, junked former PS-DBM Executive Director Lloyd Christopher Lao’s claim that he was no longer part of such a transaction because he resigned in April 2021.“Kasama sya sa mga unang pumirma eh. Kasama pa siya,” he said.Even Lao’s appeal that he now be cleared by the blue ribbon committee is still pending, according to the senator.As for former Education Secretary Leonor Briones that she delegated everything to her people, Tolentino stated that there is still an issue of “command responsibility.”“Invited sya (Briones), but we take into consideration her health, her age, her physical conditions,” Tolentino said.Tolentino stressed that the “burden of proof” lies on those who sought a Senate investigation through their filed resolutions.Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano were the ones who filed separate resolutions regarding the more than P2 billion laptop project for DepEd which the PS-DBM had procured.

Sen. Francis Tolentino said it's too early to say whether the PS-DBM and the DepEd colluded on the allegedly overpriced yet outdated laptops.

Tolentino: DepEd laptops were overpriced, but too early to say if collusion happened

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Tolentino: DepEd laptops were overpriced, but too early to say if collusion happened

Sherrie Ann Torres,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 01, 2022 01:33 AM PHT

Read More:

Senate

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee

DepEd

PS-DBM

Francis Tolentino

laptops

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