Former DepEd execs face graft charges over laptop deals

Former Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones, erstwhile Procurement Service chief Lloyd Christopher Lao, and several other former officials are facing graft and falsification charges stemming from alleged anomalies in the 2021 procurement of entry-level laptops for public school teachers.

This, as the laptops were reportedly overpriced at P2.4 billion and found to be outdated.

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

Among those facing graft charges are 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, Bragado, Ladanga, and Uayan also face charges of falsification. Lao, Uayan, and Sevilla are additionally charged with perjury.

Graft investigators stated there was “a clear intent to jack up” the price of the laptops to P58,300 per unit, a cost 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 read.

The Ombudsman launched its inquiry in 2022 following a recommendation by former Senator Francis Tolentino, who chaired 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 (CoA), which flagged the deal as “pricey” for entry-level laptops.

According to the CoA report, the DepEd had allocated P2.4 billion to purchase laptops for public school teachers nationwide after the government declared a public health emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, necessitating remote classes. The DepEd tasked the PS-DBM, then headed by Lao, with the procurement.

Audit findings, however, revealed that DepEd approved PS-DBM’s recommendation for a price of P58,300 per unit, despite the allotted budget per laptop being only P35,046.50. State auditors also discovered that the market price for the same Dell laptop model, with an outdated Intel Celeron processor, ranged only from P22,490 to P25,000.

While 68,500 public school teachers were intended to receive laptops, the significant price difference meant that only 39,583 benefited, depriving 28,917 teachers.

After spearheading five extensive hearings in late 2022, Tolentino estimated the overprice at P979 million.

Several lawmakers have previously called for the abolition of the PS-DBM, describing it as “graft-ridden,” but the agency remains operational.