Tuesday, October 3, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Heads to roll over laptop mess

Macon Ramos-AranetabyMacon Ramos-Araneta
September 30, 2022, 1:30 am
in News, Top Stories
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Sen. Tolentino says ‘revealing and explosive’ evidence unearthed

Heads will roll over the controversial P2.4-billion purchase of overpriced laptops for the Department of Education, Sen. Francis Tolentino said Thursday, guaranteeing that “many” will face charges following what he described as “revealing and explosive evidence” unearthed in yesterday’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearing.

Tolentino declined to say what charges awaited former and current officials of the Education department, the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS), and even private contractors, particularly those who cornered multiple contracts from the DepEd through the DBM-PS.

The senator told reporters to wait for the final committee report after the conduct of one more hearing.

During Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada pressed Abram Abanil, Board Member of the DBM-PS Special Bids and Awards Committee, if the firm LDLA had been previously awarded a contract to supply laptops to the DepEd by the budget bureau.

Abanil replied that LDLA bagged the contract only for the laptops, although it had previously bidded on other projects.

For his part, Sen. Win Gatchalian said senators flagged the inconsistent statements of DBM officials on their legal basis for the procurement of the laptops.

PS-DBM Officer Ulysses Mora told the hearing it was former PS-DBM OIC Jasonemer Uayan who gave the go signal for the posting of the invitation to bid for the project.

Tolentino also noted that DepEd officials who had earlier denied their “marginal notes” on documents related to the procurement now admitted the notes were theirs.

“There was also a diary,” he added in a briefing after the five-hour hearing.

The official diary, Tolentino said, contained the DepEd’s everyday transactions in connection with the purchase of the laptops intended to be used by teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person classes were banned, and online education was established.

“The contents of the official diary were very detailed, so they cannot be fabricated,” emphasized Tolentino, also a lawyer.

Estrada, meanwhile, asked Abanil how many times the firm Advance Solutions, Inc. (ASI) was awarded supply contracts by the DBM-PS or DepEd.

Abanil said when he was director, ASI was awarded once, but prior to his assuming office, the company was awarded contracts “multiple times” during the previous administration, without specifying how many.

But Estrada said based on his own research, ASI has been awarded similar contracts for the supply and delivery of DepEd’s IT or computer requirements since 2015, to which Abanil agreed.

The senator also revealed that ASI seemed to be a “favored” supplier of DepEd as it has cornered close to P6 billion in contracts for the agency’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) requirements.

He pointed out that awarding contracts to ASI, along with a few other “favored” suppliers, should have raised red flags within the DepEd and investigated by the Commission on Audit (COA), but no probe has been conducted so far on such practices.

“The consistency of ASI being awarded the contracts does not raise suspicion? With the contracts awarded to ASI, doesn’t it seem like there’s favoritism?” Estrada told DepEd officials.

PS-DBM’s Mora, meanwhile, said they already obtained the Agency Procurement Request, other required communications between the two agencies, and a draft MOA for the laptop procurement.

But since the bureau only had 51 calendar days to conduct the procurement, it pushed Mora to get clearance from Uayan.

According to Mora, when he was instructed by Uayan to post the invitation to bid, there was no final MOA yet.
Gatchalian then asked Uayan the basis of his instruction to post the invitation to bid.

Uayan said the 2017 MOA between the PS-DBM and the DepEd and the 2021 can be used for the laptop procurement.

Tags: Abram AbnilBlue Ribbon CommitteeDepartment of EducationJinggoy Estrada
ADVERTISEMENT
Macon Ramos-Araneta

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Related Posts

PH, US, allies kick off 11-day naval drills

byVince Lopezand1 others
October 3, 2023, 1:10 am
0
8
Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

Drills involving the naval personnel of the Philippines, the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and Indonesia kicked...

Read more

President, VP’s approval ratings see steep drop in third quarter

byCharles Dantes
October 3, 2023, 1:05 am
0
8
President, VP’s approval ratings see steep drop in third quarter

The approval ratings of the country’s two top officials dropped noticeably in the third quarter of the year, the latest...

Read more

Senate, House performing well, Pinoys say in Pulse Asia survey

byManila Standard
October 3, 2023, 1:00 am
0
8
Senate, House performing well, Pinoys say in Pulse Asia survey

More than half of Filipino adults approve of the performance of the Senate and the House of Representatives, a third-quarter...

Read more

‘Jenny’ seen reaching peak intensity today

byRio N. Arajaand1 others
October 3, 2023, 12:55 am
0
8
‘Jenny’ seen becoming typhoon by Monday

Typhoon “Jenny” intensified while moving northwestward over the Philippine Sea, the state weather bureau said yesterday. It is expected to...

Read more

Napoles dodges plunder rap, but guilty of 9 counts of direct bribery

byMaricel Cruz
October 3, 2023, 12:50 am
0
8
Food stamps tack eyed via ADB aid

Convicted plunderer Janet Lim Napoles was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan in a plunder case together with a former party-list lawmaker....

Read more

6 Navotas cops facing charges for teen’s slay

byManila Standard
October 3, 2023, 12:45 am
0
8
Soriano named comms adviser

State prosecutors have filed criminal charges against six Navotas police officers implicated in the death of 17-year-old Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar....

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • PH, US, allies kick off 11-day naval drills
  • President, VP’s approval ratings see steep drop in third quarter
  • Senate, House performing well, Pinoys say in Pulse Asia survey
  • ‘Jenny’ seen reaching peak intensity today
  • Napoles dodges plunder rap, but guilty of 9 counts of direct bribery
  • 6 Navotas cops facing charges for teen’s slay
  • Gas prices rolled back P2, kerosene down, diesel up
  • Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

Advertisement

Latest News

6 Navotas cops facing charges for teen’s slay

byManila Standard
October 3, 2023, 12:45 am
0
8
Soriano named comms adviser

State prosecutors have filed criminal charges against six Navotas police officers implicated in the death of 17-year-old Jerhode “Jemboy” Baltazar....

Read more

Gas prices rolled back P2, kerosene down, diesel up

byAlena Mae S. Flores
October 3, 2023, 12:40 am
0
8
Petron price cut whopper: P4.50/liter

Oil firms are implementing a mixed price movement effective 6 a.m. today (Tuesday) with a price rollback of P2 per...

Read more

Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

byAFP
October 3, 2023, 12:35 am
0
8
Pair wins Nobel Medicine prize

STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Katalin Kariko of Hungary and Drew Weissman of the United States won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for...

Read more

Socorro members could lose homes

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
October 3, 2023, 12:30 am
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

THE suspension of an agreement that allowed the suspected cult Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI) to use 353 hectares of...

Read more

DMW probing death of OFW in Saudi Arabia

byVito Barcelo
October 3, 2023, 12:25 am
0
8
Palace awaits DMW report on US island labor dispute

The Philippine government is investigating the death of a Filipino domestic worker who was found dead with stab wounds in...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Pets
  • Tech
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Cravings
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App