Vice President Sara Duterte should take full responsibility for the P5.6 billion in food supplies that allegedly went to waste during her tenure as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), House leaders said Sunday.

House Assistant Majority Leaders Jefferson Khonghun and Paolo Ortega made the remark in response to the recent Commission on Audit (CoA) report, revealing that 21 School Division Offices (SDOs) reported delays and non-delivery of food items and pasteurized milk under the DepEd School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP).

“This is not a matter of politics, but of transparency and accountability. The public has the right to know what happened to the billions of pesos that should have benefited children in need,” Khonghun said in Filipino.

Ortega echoed Khonghun, contending that as the DepEd chief at the time, Duterte is obliged to explain the shortcomings of the department, taking into account that the funds involved were massive.

“About P5.6 billion worth of food was wasted and was not used by the children. As the leader of DepEd then, she should have ensured the proper implementation of the project. This is clearly a command responsibility,” Ortega said in Filipino.

Based on the 2023 CoA report, DepEd under Duterte failed to optimally achieve SBFP’s objective to provide good nutrition to the intended learners due to several deficiencies in the implementation of the program.

It noted the delivery of moldy, insect-infested nutri buns and rotting food items, as well as unsanitary packaging and mislabelled manufacturing and expiry details. The SBFP had total funding of P5.69 billion, according to the auditing body.

In the Aurora SDO, pests or insects were found inside Karabun or milky bun and E-nutribun (squash) during the inspection of the food items. In the Bulacan SDO, the audit team found deliveries of food items that were “either rotten, unripe or crushed.”

Meanwhile, in the Misamis Oriental SDO, “1,001 pieces of E-nutribun delivered from September 2023 to January 2024 were returned to the suppliers for replacement due to the presence of mold and discoloration on the bread, one to two days before the expiry dates.”

“Some items were delivered in poor condition, as some packaging diffused with no reasonable amount of air to maintain their freshness and when pressed with considerable extent of strength, the packaging likewise diffuses,” state auditors said.

In the Iligan City SDO, the packaging of the food items had “irreconcilable expiry dates,” while others had manufacturing dates that were “not easily discernible,” contrary to the terms of the contract, CoA added.

Duterte headed the DepEd for nearly two years until her abrupt resignation on 19 June. Lawmaker Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara took over the post on 20 July.