SENATOR ALAN PETER CAYETANO OPENING STATEMENT
BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE PROBE ON SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 134
August 25, 2022

Jeremiah is a prophet who is respected by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. And he said that, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Speaking the spirit of GOD, he's telling us na maganda ang plano ni GOD para sa atin. Pero may condition po iyon kung susunod tayo sa kalooban ng DIYOS. Dahil ang demonyo may plano rin para sa atin.

So I thank you very much Mr. Chairman for this opportunity to hear this issue. Because if we go to the second verse - Proverbs 29:2 sabi po doon, "When the righteous are praised, the people will rejoice; but when the ungodly rule, men mourn." Sobra na po ang pag-iiyak at pagluluksa ng ating mga kababayan sa COVID, sa taas ng presyo, sa mga problema.

I'm happy to see former Secretary Liling Briones here today. You know you are one of my favorite people in this world. You have spent your life making sure na hindi mabaon sa utang ang Pilipinas at magamit sa tama ang budget in and out of government. Let me start by saying there is no allegation of corruption on your part. Having said that, siempre ma'am, you are not the whole department ma'am. I'm happy you're here and the present DepED officials today. Thank you for being here today.

Let me just give an overview and then we will go on stages. Marami pong nagsabi pero iisa na lang po iqquote ko. Yung dati pong Deputy Ombudsman Cyril Ramos in 2019 said that seven hundred billion pesos or 20 percent of our national budget goes to corruption. So kung ngayon, mahigit 5 trillion pesos kung totoo ang budget ngayon. The 20 percent, that's about one trillion pesos. Put that's only part of the budget, wala pa diyan yung galing BIR and Customs na hindi pumapasok sa badyet, nakokorupt na.

I just want to relate this and thank again the chairman for having simultaneous hearings. In September 2021's price of sugar was 54 sa supermarket and 62 in wet market. By August 2022, 93 na sa supermarket and 95 na sa public markets. Again in our investigation, lumalabas na hindi lang supply and demand ito, kung hindi may corruption issues na involved dito. So ang ginagawa ng Blue Ribbon, nakatali ito together. Yung hirap ng buhay ng ating mga kababayan ay apektado nitong lahat.

So going into the issues and the reason why I filed the resolution, sa original po ong estimate ng DepED, it was 35,000 pesos. Ang nangyari po at lumabas 58, 300 po ang pagkabili ng computer. This was awarded, yung 58,000 in June 30, 2021. May 10, just a month and a few days before, nag-bid ang DBM-PS for 45,000 ng mid-range computers. Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng 45,000 yung mid-range pero 58,000 yung entry-level kasi daw pinalitan yung ABC or estimated price.

Now because they spoke too soon when this issue came out, and saying na DBM-PS iyan.

Because according to COA, pumayag ang DepED sa 58k. Ayan po yung pagbid nung mid-range 20,000 units for PS main. 17k for Pampanga depot and for the regional depot 17, 45k pesos. Ito po ay lightweight, mid-range computers.

Earlier the dept had also engaged the DBM-PS for brand new laptops in 2020 with a faster Intel Core i5 processor, 8th generation, Turbo Speed of 3.9GHz, 4-core, 6MB cache with a unit price of only 32,500. Mr. Chair, tignan natin yung specs, malayo talaga. So kung titignan natin sa market for the same Dell computer that na nasa specification, it's only 22,490 to 25,000 pesos. Everyone knows this lalo na ang mga bata kasi aspiration naman ng lahat na magkaroon ng Macbook. Itong Macbook Air ay 57,990 - mas mura pa ito sa binili ng DBM-PS na computers para sa ating mga teachers. Kung mag referendum tayo sa mga DepEd teachers, siguro mas gugustuhin nila ang MacBook. Air. So sana Macbook Air na lang binili natin.

This is the ABC or the approved budget contract. Iyan ang safeguard eh, pero in this case pinailt nga and we will go into that accordance to the chairman's roadmap. So kung lumampas ka sa ABC, magffail yung bid. Ang problema, pinalitan yung bid.

As per available documents, the Audit Team could not ascertain the DBM-PS' basis for adopting the unit price of 58,300 pesos in its recommended ABC. Apparently, the supposed number of laptops to be procured of 68,500 units was significantly reduced to 39,583 units which was mainly due to the huge increase of estimated cost from 35,046.50 based on DepEd's submitted and approved APR, to 58,300 anchored on the DBM-PS' recommendation, which was duly accepted by the DepEd. So there are two things here. Number one, walang papeles kung bakit iniba ng DBM-PS yung recommendation. Kung iniba mo yung presyo, dapat sabihin mo kung bakit tumaas yung presyo. Pero question din - bakit inapprove ng DepEd?

As of Dec 28, 2021, hindi pa rin nadi distribute yung computers. Ma'am and I'm sorry to speak in this way, pero hindi po kami natulog kaming mga kongresista nang ipinasa namin ang Bayanihan 1 kasama ang mga senador para makuha ng ating mga kababayan yung 2 gives na 10,000 pesos. Ilang araw naming trinabahao yung Bayanihan 2. Bayanihan 1 is yung We Heal As One. Bayanihan 2, yung We Recover As One. Kasi kailangan ng PPE, IT equipment ang mga estudyante. Grabe po yung trinabaho namin and inassure kami that in 3 months, kaya iyan bilhin at ipamimigay kaagad para sa 2021 at 2022 budget ay meron na tayong malalagay na tablet or laptop para sa mga bata.

Pero end of 2021, hindi pa rin dindistribute ito. Today, instead of the 2021 and 2022 and two days ago, Monday yung 2023 budget, instead na iyan ay may napakalaking pondo para sa tablet at laptop para sa alternative learning system, at para sa students and teachers, wala because the experiment we put in Bayanihan 2 ay hindi tinutukan at tinapon sa DBM-PS at nagkaloko-loko ang presyo sa DBM-PS.

Sa DepEd family and DBM-PS, please explain today and I'll start with the question na - Ano ang nangyari? Nagmeeting tayo sa Malacanang kasama lahat ng mga secretaries. Kainitan pa ito ng pandemic. Hindi natin alam kung magkakaroon pa tayo ng vaccine or hindi. Naka lockdown. Puno yung mga ospital. Araw-araw kaming pumasok sa Kongreso, hindi kami nagsara. Grabe ang consultation namin sa lahat ng departamento - DOH, DepED, DTI. Pati yung binigay na bilyong-bilyong sa SB Corp, maging iyon hindi nila napautang. Ang PPEs nakita niyo nagkaloko-loko. Meron naman po kayong BAC. Bakit naman po lahat ipinasa sa DBM-PS, at anong nangyari.

Again, I am not defending the good secretary. Many people do not know the challenges that she was passing through that time, and I think half of the cabinet also had covid pa during that time. So I'm not talking about one person or the secretary here, I'm talking about the departments - the Usecs, Asecs, the director, yung head ninyo ng finance. Bakit hindi ninyo binid at binilisan?

Let me just express my frustrations. But my hope is that after this hearing, huwag na po sanang maulit pa sa ibang departamento para bumalik naman ang tiwala ng tao sa ating gobyerno. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.