THE Commission on Audit has flagged the Department of Education for lost and non-distributed books and sought to hold liable those responsible for doing so.
In an audit report, CoA said penalties must be imposed on DepEd officials for the loss of 820,682 grade school books due to water damage and the non-distribution of 2.1 million textbooks and teachers’ manuals, including some that were already at least five years old and obsolete.
The damaged books were worth P25.214 million and formed part of a batch of reprints ordered from Lexicon Press Inc. in a joint venture with FNB Educational Inc. for a total contract cost of P72.124 million.
The notice to proceed was issued on Feb. 29, 2016 with a contract completion dated set at 90 days or a May 29, 2016 deadline, CoA noted.
Payment for 90 percent of the contract was released on July 21, 2016, leaving only a 10 percent retention to cover the warranty for a three-month period. Full payment was made on Nov. 26, 2016.
In August 2017, the audit team got information that copies of grade 2 books were damaged and disposed of.
“It was learned from the report that 820,682 grade 2 LMs (learning materials) were actually damaged at Lexicon Press warehouse due to its defective inside gutter and downspouts, which caused flooding,” CoA said.
A review of the transaction revealed the books were ordered ahead of the planned repair and refurbishing of the DepED-Bureau of Learning Resources warehouse to accommodate 2.44 million copies.
“Inspection conducted revealed that the capacity and availability of the DepEd-BLR warehouses was not sufficient to accommodate all the printed LMs procured,” the report read.
“It was evident that the inspection date on the inspection and acceptance reports exactly coincides with the date of delivery on May 28, 2016 casting doubt on the veracity of inspection made over the 2,440,336 copies of Grade 2 LMs.
“These circumstances bring doubt…on his capacity to carry out complete inspection of delivered LMs worth P72,124,094.76 on the day of actual delivery,” it said.
Apart from the books lost due to water damage, CoA discovered 2,673,384 copies of books that remained unused and undistributed.
Inspection as of Sept. 14, 2017 showed the DepEd-BLR warehouse held unissued copies totaling 2,101,670, dating back to orders delivered in 2013.
“The value of the undistributed/unissued textbooks approximately ranges from P56,750,598 to P105,093,700… which may eventually result in wastage of government resources due to time obsolescence, loss, damage or deterioration,” CoA said.
DepEd said the cause of the non-distribution was credited to lack of funds.
“It is unconscionable for the Department to purchase millions worth of textbooks then allowed [them] to remain on stock and to become obsolete due to lack of funding. This can be attributed to inability to plan and lack of coordination of the concerned offices,” CoA said.