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Senate panel grants immunity to witness in laptop probe

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THE Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) has granted immunity to a “vital witness” from the Department of Education (DepEd) so he can freely testify on the alleged overpriced purchase of laptops for public school teachers.

The BRC, led by Sen. Francis Tolentino, granted immunity to lawyer Marcelo Bragado Jr., DepEd’s Procurement Management Service director.

Bragado needed the immunity to be able to shed light on the DepEd’s purchase of allegedly pricey and outdated laptops through the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (PS-DBM).

Tolentino said Bragado’s statements “cannot be used against [him]in possible lawsuits.

Bragado confirmed the observation of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian that the procurement process for the laptops was “defective.”

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He said that the memorandum of agreement (MoA) was only signed on May 28, 2021 or after the invitation to bid was posted and the quotation for the laptops were requested.

Meanwhile, the BRC learned that the notary public, Jose Floro Crisologo, who notarized the MoA between DepEd and PS-DBM had passed away. He had been earlier invited as a resource person to appear before the panel.

Tolentino said that the date of death of the notary public “is a material fact in the panel’s investigation.”

“If it would appear that Crisologo died before the date indicated in the MoA, the veracity of the MoA and legality of the acts of the PS-DBM in procuring the laptops for DepEd would now be “without basis,” he added.

Former PS-DBM officer-in-charge Lloyd Christopher Lao physically attended the BRC hearing after he was required to appear in person before the committee.

Lao confirmed the authenticity of his signature and that of his junior officer in the memorandum of agreement between PS-DBM and DepEd. He also confirmed signing a letter addressed to Education Undersecretary Alain del Pascua concerning the scheduling of the posting of advertisement for the laptops on April 29, 2021.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd told Lao that fellow senators were looking into a “theory” that PS-DBM can only be a procurement agency and not a procuring entity that could conduct end-to-end transactions.

He said PS-DBM might have entered into contracts that may be “beyond the scope of the law.” If such was the case, Pimentel said, then the contracts entered into by PS-DBM and the requesting agencies may have been void from the beginning.

“We are looking into this theory. We have to look at the intention under the law. If it is against public policy for PS-DBM to become a procurement entity then we will have some serious consequences. We will study the subject matter,” he said

The BRC also raised the legality of DepEd’s move to split contracts as it undertook repeat orders of laptop units from only five suppliers. Such practice could be violative of procurement law.

Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said these five companies have cornered billions of pesos in procurement deals from DepEd since 2013.

He said that these suppliers — Advance Solutions, Inc. (ASI), Columbia Technologies, Inc., Reddot Imaging Philippines, Inc., Techguru Inc. and Girltekki Inc.— have apparently been favored by the DepEd in supplying its IT (information technology) requirements.

Estrada said his research showed that there “were several repeat orders made by the DepEd made in favor of these suppliers” which gave them the convenience of dispensing with the need of undergoing public bidding again to secure new contracts.

“In the case of these suppliers, why did we not just bid for the goods in a single lot? Was there lack of planning here or was the DepEd deliberately dividing the contract so that it can use repeat orders as an alternative mode of procurement? ” Estrada asked DepEd Director Abram Abanil.

“Does that not circumvent the law against splitting of contracts?” Estrada added.

Abanil said the decision to divide the lots in the procurement deals was done by the DepEd’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) because it got worried that the bidders would not be able to comply with the contracts’ requirements.

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