Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan, Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua and 3 others have been charged with graft over the purchase of P320 million worth of alleged substandard smart tablets for public school students, an accusation the mayor readily dismissed as malicious and politically motivated.
Aso respondents in the graft case filed before the Office of Ombudsman by three Caloocan City councilors are city treasurer Analiza Mendiola, bids and awards committee chairman Oliver Hernandez, and Annalou Pallarca, senior project officer of supplier Cosmic Technologies Inc.
The complainants, Christopher Malonzo, Marylou San Buenaventure, Alexander Managasar, told the Ombudsman that the respondents acquired the “substandard” smart tablets from Cosmic “without a public bidding.”
The smart tablets were purchased for students in Caloocan public schools, which shifted to distance learning last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the complaint, the purchased tablets—Cherry Cosmos 7—are “not even commercially available for sale in the market” and do not meet the minimum technical specifications set by the Departmentof Education.
The DepEd earlier issued a memorandum detailing the minimum requirements for gadgets that would be donated to public schools.
Despite the “subpar technical specifications,” Pascua issued a memorandum stating that the tablets procured by the Caloocan city government “meets the requirements of providing distance learning for students,” the complainants said.
The complainants compared other tablets from Cosmic and suggested that if another brand was bought, the procurement contract would only amount to P239.125 million, saving P79.579 million.
Compared to Cherry Cosmos 7, the other tablets met the specifications set by DepEd, the complainants said.
The complainants said they asked Malapitan to submit a comprehensive report on the procurement of the tablets and a contract with Cosmic, but failed to submit them.
“The demands of the complainants were not met. Malapitan did not submit any written report detailing the utilization of the 320 million budget for the tablets,” they said.
In a statement, Malapitan said he has yet to receive a copy of the complaint but was confident that it would be dismissed.
There are documents proving that this project was compliant and went through the right process,” Malapitan said.
Malapitan said the complainants “have been using this issue since last year to gain political points with the people of Caloocan.”
Pascua, meanwhile, said he “was not involved in the procurement process in Caloocan City.”
“Contrary to the lawsuit filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, there was competitive public bidding for the selection of digital tablets for students in Caloocan City. The lawsuit was malicious and political during a time of people’s suffering, ” Malapitan said.
The mayor stressed that the project process was complete and legal, including thorough bidding in which three bidders participated. In fact, the project’s Invitation To Bid was published in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGeps) and in the Philippine Star.
“I assure you that our digital tablets project has gone through public bidding with no other purpose but to help the blended learning of our Grade 9 to Grade 12 students in public schools,” the mayor said. The local chief executive on February 17, 2020 filed a case against several councilors including Councilors PJ Malonzo, Alexander Mangasar and Alou Nubla after they repeatedly mocked and slandered the digital tablets project.
“If I am the only one being slandered by my political opponents that is not a big deal. We are accustomed to the slander from political opponents. But I will not allow the malicious blocking of meaningful project for the education for the students of Caloocan. They should prepare their answer carefully because after the case against us is dismissed, I will sue them from their malicious prosecution and damages,” the Mayor said.
“It is unfortunate that while we continue to face the pandemic, their selfish and destructive politics will also continue. I will deal with you anywhere because our conscience is clear. I assure the people of Caloocan that I will never disappoint them in today’s time of pandemic,”said Malapitan.