Briones, Lao face graft, falsification raps over P2.4-B laptop deal

Former Education Secretary Leonor Briones, erstwhile Procurement Service chief Lloyd Christopher Lao, and several others are facing graft and falsification charges over alleged anomalies in the procurement of entry-level laptops for public school teachers, which were found to be outdated and overpriced at P2.4 billion in 2021.

In a 106-page order released Friday, a special panel of graft investigators at the Ombudsman found “probable cause” to recommend the filing of charges against former key officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).

The respondents in the graft case include Annalyn Sevilla, Alain Pascua, Salvador Malana III, Abram Abanil, Marcelo Bragado, Alec Ladanga, Selwyn Briones, Jasonmer Uayan, Ulysses Mora, Marwan Amil, Paul Estrada, and Froilna Domingo.

Briones, Lao, Sevilla, Malana III, Bragado, Ladanga, and Uayan were also charged with falsification, while only Lao, Uayan, and Sevilla face perjury.

According to graft investigators, “there was a clear intent to jack up” the price of the laptops to P58,300 per unit. The cost was deemed “highly suspicious.”

“Considering the complexity of the scheme and the individual participation of respondents as contributory to the carrying out and perpetuation of a common design to give unwarranted benefit to the Joint Venture and to cause undue injury to the government, a finding of probable cause for the prosecution of respondents under Section 3(e) of RA 3019 suffices since violation of Section 3 (a) and (g) of RA 3019 are already deemed subsumed therein,” the resolution reads.

The Ombudsman launched the inquiry in 2022 following a recommendation by ex-senator Francis Tolentino, who headed the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that conducted an initial investigation into the overpriced laptops.

The Senate probe was triggered by findings from the Commission on Audit, which flagged the deal as “pricey” for entry-level laptops.

Based on the audit report, the DepEd set aside P2.4 billion to purchase laptops for public school teachers nationwide after the government declared a state of public health emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing remote classes.

The DepEd tapped the PS-DBM, then headed by Lao, to undertake the procurement.

Audit findings, however, revealed that the DepEd approved the PS-DBM’s recommendation with a price of P58,300 per unit, even though the allotted budget per laptop was only P35,046.50.

Moreover, state auditors discovered that the base price of the same Dell laptop, with the outdated Intel Celeron processor, only ranged from P22,490 to P25,000 in the market.

At least 68,500 public school teachers were supposed to receive the laptops, but with a huge difference of P23,253.50 per unit, only 39,583 benefited, depriving 28,917 teachers.

After spearheading five extensive hearings in the last quarter of 2022, Tolentino said the overpricing was pegged at P979 million.

Last year, the Ombudsman also indicted Lao, along with former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in the Sandiganbayan over alleged irregularities in the purchase of Covid-19 supplies worth over P41 billion in 2020 and 2021.

Several lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate have called for the abolition of the “graft-ridden” PS-DBM, yet at present, the agency remains operational.