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Senate offers protection for witness in DepEd laptops issue

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Sherrie Ann Torres, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The Blue Ribbon Committee on September 15 grants lawyer Marcelo Bragado Jr. an immunity to shed light on the DepEd" s="" purchase="" of="" allegedly="" overpriced="" and="" outdated="" laptops.="" Voltaire="" F.="" Senate="" PRIB="" handout="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/09/16/20220915-senate-deped-prib-8543-(1).jpg"/><figcaption>The Blue Ribbon Committee on September 15 grants lawyer Marcelo Bragado Jr. an immunity to shed light on the DepEd&#x27;s purchase of allegedly overpriced and outdated laptops. Voltaire F. Domingo, Senate PRIB handout/File </figcaption></figure></div>MANILA — The Senate blue ribbon committee offered protection to Atty. Marcelo Bragado Jr. following his Thursday testimony detailing the supposed irregularity in the Department of Education&#x27;s P2.4 billion laptop project, its panel chair said.Bragado is the director of the DepEd&#x27;s Procurement Management Service.Sen. Francis Tolentino, chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, said they are just waiting for Bragado&#x27;s update if he will seek for protection.This was after he named key Department of Education and Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) officials on their questionable memorandum of agreement.&quot;We are asking him (Bragado) kung kailangan... I&#x27;ve been in communication with the SP [Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri]... kung ano &#x27;yung maibibigay sa kanyang karagdagang proteksyon, na ginawa naman ng Senado dati,&quot; Tolentino said.(We are asking Bragado if it&#x27;s needed. I&#x27;ve been in communication with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on what we can do for additional protection — a matter the Senate has done before.)<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/14/22/deped-probes-personnels-possible-role-in-laptop-mess">Sara Duterte: DepEd probes possible involvement of personnel in laptop mess</a></li></ul>While Tolentino sees Bragado as a &quot;spontaneous witness,&quot; the committee would still need to compare his claims to the statements and documentary evidence the accused officials will give.Bragado has named Education Undersecretaries Annalyn Sevilla and Alain del Pascua, Assistant Secretary Salvador Malana, and former PS-DBM Executive Director Jasonmer Uayan as those who met with him and gave him instructions to just copy the 2017 DepEd MOA to support the laptop project.Tolentino for his part said the panel will only need one more hearing to complete all their requested documents, as well as the additional signed affidavit of Bragado and recipients of laptops before they could come up with a committee report on the matter.But for Tolentino, what&#x27;s critical is the conflicting dates being given by DepEd and PS-DBM officials as to when the MOA was really signed.&quot;Very critical &#x27;yun kasi kung in-antedate &#x27;yun, falsification (of public documents) &#x27;yun,&quot; Tolentino stressed.(That&#x27;s very critical because if it&#x27;s antedated that would amount to falsification of public documents.)<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9njYBf1uM6o?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></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>The committee meantime will still have to scrutinize DepEd&#x27;s earlier promise to teachers that they will &quot;replace&quot; the reportedly outdated and overpriced laptops, the joint venture entered into by suppliers and their tax obligation.And another big question, he said, is how will the government treat the DepEd laptop project if an ante date MOA supports its legality.Asked if the DepEd laptop project will be considered null and void once proven that the MOA was antedated, Tolentino said they will study the matter and its effect on the project implementation, as well as on the bidding and award.Given all these circumstances surrounding the DepEd laptop project, the committee is not yet ready to clear anyone&#x27;s name, including that of former PS-DBM Executive Director Lloyd Christopher Lao, Tolentino said.Even former Education Secretary Leonor Briones who, according to Bragado, was only falsely advised by Sevilla and Malana cannot be cleared yet, the senator said.&quot;Lahat not yet off the hook. Hindi lang si Secretary (Briones), hindi lang si undersecretary. Wala pang off-the-hook... whether from PS-DBM side, or DepEd side,&quot; Tolentino declared.(No one is off the hook. Whether from the PS-DBM side or the DepEd side.)<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/15/22/deped-official-ex-ps-dbm-exec-contradict-on-teachers-laptop-moa">DepEd official, ex-PS-DBM exec contradict on teachers’ laptop MOA</a></li></ul>Lao, meantime, who attended the Thursday hearing said he willingly complied with the Senate blue ribbon panel&#x27;s invitation so he could personally identify the documents that he had signed in relation to the DepEd laptop project.Lao was head of the PS-DBM during the initial stages of the DepEd laptop project, which was negotiated then to PS-DBM to serve as the former&#x27;s procurement agency.Lao said he left the agency in April 2021.He refused to talk about his Pharmally investigation experience in the previous Senate but said he respects everyone&#x27;s opinion about him.&quot;Even what happened with my stint in public service, well, I don&#x27;t harbor ill feelings. Everybody has an opinion against anybody. And that should be respected,&quot; Lao told reporters.Lao also defended the PS-DBM amid allegations that the agency is just siphoning off funds of other government offices and is not performing well.&quot;People should look [at] how these people work,&quot; Lao said.Lao said he doesn&#x27;t have a stand or recommendations for improving the PS-DBM operations.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/09/15/22/gatchalian-believes-deped-laptop-project-has-no-legal-basis">Gatchalian believes DepEd laptop project has &#x27;no legal basis&#x27;</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/26/22/teachers-group-says-theres-corruption-in-deped-laptop-mess">Teachers&#x27; group says there&#x27;s &#x27;corruption&#x27; in DepEd laptop mess</a></li></ul>

The Senate blue ribbon committee said it is willing to extend protection to Marcelo Bragado Jr. following his testimony on the DepEd laptops issue.

Senate offers protection for witness in DepEd laptops issue

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Senate offers protection for witness in DepEd laptops issue

Sherrie Ann Torres,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 16, 2022 03:33 PM PHT

Read More:

Marcelo Bragado

Francis Tolentino

Senate

Senate blue ribbon committee

DepEd laptop

DepEd laptops issue

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