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DepEd official, ex-PS-DBM exec contradict on teachers’ laptop MOA

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Sherrie Ann Torres and Johnson Manabat, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - An official of the Department of Education on Thursday contradicted the former head of the budget department’s Procurement Service regarding the two agencies’ 2021 Memorandum of Agreement for the purchase of laptops for teachers.The MOA between the DepEd and the PS-DBM for the procurement of teachers’ laptops that has since become controversial, was signed on May 28, 2021, said Marcelo Bragado, Jr., Director of the DepEd’s Procurement Management Service, contrary to the statement of former PS-DBM Executive Director Jasonmer Uayan that it was forged three months earlier or February of that year.Another PS-DBM official, Ulysses Mora, who chaired the agency’s Special Bids and Awards Committee, also said previously that the May 28, 2021 date was a “typographical error”.“Based on my personal recollection, I have the MOA signed last May 28, 2021. These are covered by communication which I will submit,” Bragado said during the continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s hearing on the issue, under questioning by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.Bragado&#x27;s remark about the date of the MOA was relevant to some senators as the document, in their view, provides legal basis for the P2.4 billion transaction.”It seems like everything is falling into place. In fact, Mr. Mora was telling the truth when he was quoted in the transcript, that there is no MOA. In effect, this whole procurement is defective wala hong legal basis,&quot; Gatchalian said.&quot;Gumastos tayo ng P2.4 billions (nang) walang MOA. Is that an accurate description, Atty. Bragado?” he added.The DepEd official replied in the affirmative.Senate Minority Leader Aquilino &quot;Koko&quot; Pimentel III also took note of the conflicting dates.&quot;If it is antedated, we will have a violation of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code - altering true dates. And it will grave consequences as to the effects of a contract or a document, more so if it involves the disbursement of funds,&quot; Sen. Francis Tolentino, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, said for his part.<div>BRAGADO&#x27;S TESTIMONY</div>According to Bragado, who was granted &quot;use immunity&quot; to spare him from any legal repercussions based on his testimony, DepEd Assistant Secretary Salvador Malana called him sometime in December 2020, instructing him to draft a MOA for the laptop project.Part of the instruction, he told the Senate panel, was to just copy the 2017 DepEd MOA.Bragado said he met with DepEd executives a number of times regarding his assignment, including a face-to-face meeting in February 2021.“During that discussion in the February meeting, we discussed about the MOA... Initially, the proposal was the 2017 MOA… because (under) that 2017 MOA, there are still projects that are yet to be procured,” he said.Among the officials he met a number of times regarding the MOA were Malana, Education Undersecretaries Annalyn Sevilla and Alain del Pascua, and PS-DBM&#x27;s Uayan, said Bragado. Then PS-DBM head Lloyd Christopher Lao had also attended their Zoom meeting, he added.He said his first meeting with Uayan regarding the drafting of the MOA was on February 23, 2021 through virtual mode.&quot;Director Uayan told me that their legal division will draft a MOA for the P2.4 billion laptop project. And of course, I also told him that I will be drafting my MOA, the DepEd version of MOA,&quot; Bragado said.&quot;The main debate with Dir. Uayan during the times that we are discussing the MOA... (was) for DepEd, we retain the end-to-end capacity as procurement entity, as initiated in the 2017 MOA. However, his position is that PS-DBM would only act as contract administrator, not implementor,&quot; he continued.&quot;So, that&#x27;s the date from March-April, until on April 30, upon our agreement with Dir. Uayan... that there should be a meeting of executives to finally agree on the MOA on what will govern.&quot;According to Bragado, both Sevilla and Malana turned down his recommendation to draft a new MOA. Nevertheless, he defied them, he said.&quot;That MOA (that I drafted) has been submitted to Usec. Anne Sevilla,&quot; he said.“May 3, I had submitted a draft MOA to Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla and Assistant Secretary Salvador Malana, requesting for their comments regarding that MOA I had drafted… Basically I just changed the project,&quot; he added.&quot;The MOA that was signed by Lao, Malana, Sevilla, they were signed May 2021.”With Bragado&#x27;s narration, Gatchalian surmised that Uayan had lied to the committee in his earlier statements.The Commission on Audit, which was the first to flag the procurement as it went beyond the proposed cost of P35,046 per laptop, told the committee it also had no copy of the DepEd and PS-DBM&#x27;s 2021 MOA when it looked into the transaction.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/05/22/deped-tags-ps-dbm-on-pricey-outdated-laptops">DepEd tags PS-DBM on &#x27;pricey, outdated&#x27; laptops</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/04/22/deped-responds-to-coa-report-flagging-pricey-laptops">DepEd on &#x27;pricey, outdated&#x27; laptops: We&#x27;ve submitted required docs to COA</a></li></ul>&quot;We only used the MOA of 2017 because we have not received the MOA of 2021,&quot; Teresa Ronquillo, OIC Supervising Auditor of the DBM Audit Group, said.&quot;Ang akala namin, yun lang din ang MOA nilang nagawa. Kasi ang MOA of 2017 is a general MOA including, there is a provision there for the laptop - no specific date,&quot; she said.According to Bragado, aside from the P2.4 billion funds for the laptop project, the DepEd had also transferred P13 billion in project funds to the PS-DBM.<div>UAYAN&#x27;S RESPONSE</div>During the hearing, the panel gave Uayan the opportunity to respond to the statements of Bragado. “I know that the allegations raised by Director Bragado (are) pretty much damaging if you take it into account, considering that he has availed of the use immunity which allows him to speak freely. I cannot comment on his intention. Perhaps he might have some access to burn with the current management of DepEd... I do not know,” Uayan said.Instructed by Pimentel to address the issue, the former PS-DBM official said, “On his allegations that it was signed on May 28… that is not entirely accurate Mr. Chairman. If you can check closely, it was also him who endorsed to our office the notarized documents which was dated February 16, 2021. That is also on record.”Asked by Gatchalian as to when the MOA was really signed, Uayan said, &quot;sometime in February.&quot;<div>SIDE OF DEPED&#x27;S SEVILLA</div>Sevilla, who was attending the hearing virtually, said, “I did not add or deduce my testimonies in the first two hearings.. We are only reviewing mainly on the financial side.”Pimentel also asked her when the MOA was signed, even as he gave the warning that, “Kung makahuli kami ng MOA na signed after February, bagsak ang project niyo.&quot;The DepEd official said in reply: “As early as January (2021), mayroon na pong mga memo na sina-sign kami on this. In fact, nung February, meron na pong percent na pinag-uusapan… &#x27;Yung date po ng MOA, hindi po sa Finance manggagaling... &#x27;Yan po yung opisina ng Procurement Service.”“I am informed and I processed the modification of funds, the transfer of funds to PS-DBM. And that is the reason why we are looking for the Memorandum of Agreement. And in fact, the finance department is helping the program team to have a very swift or fast and efficient way of doing it,&quot; she explained.&quot;May I also clarify that the PS-DBM Taskforce, kami rin po sa finance ang nagkaroon ng initiative na tulungan sila na mag-follow-up ng mga proyektong pinapasa nila sa DBM-PS. At yun nga yung role ng director ng procurement service na si Director Bragado. All of the role, task and functions of finance here, even for MOA, and the PS-DBM Taskforce are mainly on the financial provisions.&quot;&quot;At yung pagde-date ng MOA, huwag naman po sana na sa amin sa finance ipasa &#x27;yan kasi sila po ang nakapirma ‘dyan,” said Sevilla.According to her, her department is complete with document regarding the MOA, which is dated February 16, 2021. And they are ready to submit the receipt for the notarial services processed by the office of Bragado.<div>SUPPLIERS&#x27; COMMENTS</div>Meanwhile, the country manager of Dell EMC Philippines explained to the panel that it is not their company that directly sold the laptop distributed to teachers.According to Ronnie Latinazo, it was their distributor and supplier who sold the laptops to PS-DBM.He said their distributor supplied the 1.8 ghz with 2MB cache laptops as stated in the contract.“Unfortunately, 1.9 ghz ang minimum. So we have actually a problem na yung nababasa nating solusyon na papalitan yun. Papano papalitan yun, Ronnie... ng distributor? Kasi sila ang kaharap ng PS-DBM eh. Pero kukuha yun ng panibago sa inyo? Panibagong gastos din? Sasaluhin nila ang gastos na yun?’ Pimentel asked.Latinazo answered: “Probably, Your Honor.”The members of the panel also can’t help but frown upon hearing the cause of some bidders’ disqualification to bid.Mora, the chair of the PS-DBM Special Bids and Awards Committee, said: “The BAC members voted not acceptable. 3 unacceptable, 1 acceptable.”One bidder was disqualified because of the laptop bag requirement.“The bag was, on first examination, the BAC concluded that the bag was not made of ballistic nylon… Upon explanation, the BAC accepted that the bag was made of ballistic nylon,” Bong Bernas, VST ECS Director, said.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/25/22/deped-ps-dbm-grilled-for-bidding-laptops-with-bags">DepEd, PS-DBM questioned for bidding laptops with bags</a></li></ul>“Yung ballistics bag ha been in the specs of the DepEd even before my time in 2014,” DepEd ICTS Director Abram Abanil said.“We are not sending them to combat zones. We are actually giving them (to) work from homes,” Tolentino said.VST ECS, LDLA Marketing and Trading, Inc and Sunwest Construction and Development Corporation were able to bag the DepEd project after agreeing to band together.The committee will resume its investigation next week, with more resource persons expected to show up, as well as document to be submitted to help shed light on the controversy.The probe stemmed from the findings of COA that instead of procuring laptops at P35,045 each to benefit 68,500 personnel, the items purchased cost P58,300 each, reducing the beneficiaries to 39,583.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/20/21/deped-laptops-personnel-teachers">DepEd says 68,500 personnel to get laptops</a></li></ul><div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2194505" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

An official of the Department of Education on Thursday contradicted the former head of the budget department’s Procurement Service regarding the two agencies’ 2021 Memorandum of Agreement for the controversial purchase of laptops for teachers.

DepEd official, ex-PS-DBM exec contradict on teachers’ laptop MOA

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DepEd official, ex-PS-DBM exec contradict on teachers’ laptop MOA

Sherrie Ann Torres and Johnson Manabat,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 15, 2022 11:44 PM PHT

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