Not all teachers will get laptops, DepEd says
Education Secretary Sonny Angara clarified that not all public school teachers will receive laptops under the government's latest distribution program, citing limited supplies and eligibility requirements intended to prioritize those most in need.
Speaking at a Palace briefing, Angara said the Department of Education (DepEd) has more than 840,000 teachers but only 231,725 laptops allocated for the latest rollout.
“We have to establish some kind of prioritization as we have 840,000 plus teachers and we have only a certain number of units, which is just around 231,000,” Angara said.
Under the Laptops for Teachers (L4T) program, eligible recipients must have active teaching assignments and must not possess a serviceable laptop issued by DepEd, another government agency, a local government unit or through a formal donation between 1 January 2023 and 6 November 2026.
Teachers who previously received laptops may still qualify if their devices have been officially declared unserviceable, were damaged or lost in a calamity, or were stolen, subject to documentation and validation by their Schools Division Office.
Owning a personal laptop or using shared school equipment does not automatically disqualify a teacher.
Qualified recipients must also have active DepEd email accounts with multifactor authentication enabled before receiving their devices.
Angara said teachers in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas remain eligible, although the lack of electricity in some schools could complicate the use of the equipment.
“But if kapag wala naman silang kuryente, they will not be able to charge the computer. So, siguro hangga’t makuha nila, although ongoing din kasi iyong electrification and solarization ng ibang schools, ‘no. So, kapag nagbago iyong sitwasyon nila, then definitely makukuha nila iyong laptop,” he said.
DepEd has awarded contracts for 231,725 laptops for teachers, consisting of 169,008 Apple MacBook Neo units and 62,717 Windows-based laptops.
An additional 3,646 MacBook Neo laptops were procured for administrative personnel, bringing the total number of Apple devices to 172,654.
Angara said the department had procured 372,155 laptops for teachers from 2022 to 2026, including the latest batch.
Apple wins competitive bidding
Addressing questions over the selection of Apple laptops, Angara said the company secured its share of the procurement through competitive bidding.
The MacBook Neo package costs approximately P43,000 per unit, about P6,900 below its suggested retail price of P49,900.
Angara said the procurement requirements focused on specifications and long-term value rather than a particular brand.
“And kaya mayroon tayong mga Mac, mayroon din tayong mga Acer and in the past mayroon tayong ibang brands din may HP, may Asus among others ‘no, so, napakaraming brands niyan but definitely ang importante diyan iyong specs na maganda at pabor talaga sa ating nga educators or teachers like dito iyong five-year warranty – iyan first time in history nagkaroon tayo ng five-year warranty usually one year lang iyan kaya iyong ibang suppliers medyo doon sila nahirapan dahil first nating hiningi itong spec na ito eh na the long-term warrant para in the long run tipid din ang gobyerno sa maintenance of expenses ng repair, et cetera, gumagastos din diyan ang gobyerno,” he explained.
The package includes productivity tools, delivery, professional training and a five-year warranty, compared with the standard one-year retail warranty.
Apple CEO John Ternus earlier described the DepEd contract as the company's largest education agreement for Mac computers.
The nationwide deployment began on 9 November in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, with the remaining MacBook Neo units scheduled for distribution through March 2027.