Photo Release

BRC recommends filing of charges vs DepEd, DBM officials over P979M overpriced laptops: Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino, chairperson of the Blue Ribbon Committee, recommends the filing of charges against Department of Education (DepED) officials over the alleged overpriced laptops. In his sponsorship speech delivered during Monday’s plenary session, January 30, 2023, Tolentino also recommended the abolition of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) under the 197-page Committee Report No. 19 of the panel. He said he filed Senate Bill No. 1803 to that effect. The BRC also urged government departments, agencies and offices to refrain from delegating procurement tasks and to conduct their own procurement as an exercise of their fiduciary duty of accountability for public funds appropriated for their respective offices. He further said the country could have achieved transformation had the public officials from the former DepEd administration and the PS-DBM exercised their sworn duty to uphold the public trust and perform their fiduciary duty to safeguard and ensure the optimal use of public funds in the purchase of laptops for public school teachers. “This was sadly not the case,” he said. (Senate PRIB photos)