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Koko flags deal covering DepEd's laptop purchase: Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III raises on Thursday, September 29, 2022 the supposed inconsistencies of Department of Education (DepEd) officials in explaining the memorandum of agreement (MOA) governing the agency's procurement of allegedly overpriced and outdated laptops through the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM). During the resumption of the Blue Ribbon Committee's investigation on the issue, Pimentel quizzed DepEd USec. for Finance Annalyn Sevilla who told senators that she was informed about the three draft MOAs being discussed with the PS-DBM for the P2.4-billion laptop purchase as of April 29, 2021. In a sworn affidavit submitted to the Senate panel, however, the latter referred to a February 16, 2021 notarized MOA as the basis of their procurement. Sevilla said she has yet to be given copies of the drafts mentioned by committee witness and DepEd Procurement Management Service director Marcelo Bragado Jr., adding that she was not part of the transactions. She also clarified that even as negotiations were ongoing, a 2017 MOA governing all of DepEd's procurements through the PS-DBM would still have covered the laptop purchase. "I am just disappointed that in your sworn statement...you did not allege the Feb. 16, 2021 execution of the MOA, you just cited the date of the MOA. But from your testimony now, as late as April or May of 2021, you knew -- and that's beyond Feb. 16, 2021 -- you had personal knowledge that draft MOAs were still being entertained," Pimentel told Sevilla. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)