MANILA, Philippines – Progressive lawmakers at the House of Representatives formally sought an investigation into the fire sale in retail and online stores of Department of Education (DepEd) laptops intended for public school teachers.

The three-member Makabayan bloc of the House minority filed House Resolution No. 950 on Tuesday, May 9, citing Rappler’s investigative reports that examined what went wrong with a messy laptop deal involving DepEd.

Read Rappler’s two-part series here:

• Part 1: Negligence, corruption lead to fire sale of DepEd laptops
• Part 2: Tiny logistics firm bags P667-million DepEd deal – and fails to deliver

“An investigation is important because our teachers badly need the laptops now. The DepEd was already once tricked into procuring overpriced laptops, and now, corrupt individuals in DepEd are making a profit out of it,” House deputy minority leader France Castro said in Filipino.

The resolution she authored alongside Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel specifically urged the House good government committee to kickstart an inquiry into the matter.

Play Video

The procurement of laptops was part of the DepEd computerization program, a project that sought to improve public schools’ access to technology.

But state auditors found that the DepEd under the Duterte administration failed to meet their targets from 2018 to 2020.

To fast-track deliveries, the agency tapped Transpac Cargo Logistics Inc., a tiny and little-known logistics firm, to handle a P667-million deal.

But Transpac struggled to fulfill its commitments even with the use of subcontractors.

DepEd also failed to pay Transpac on time, partly due to transition woes from the Duterte to the present Marcos administration in 2022. This resulted in a string of new problems, including the blatant sale of the laptops by the subcontractors.

Rappler’s exposé found that the DepEd moved too slowly to stop the sale of the said laptops. – Rappler.com