Former PS-DBM OIC Lao faces Senate blue ribbon probe on DepEd laptops

Lloyd Christopher Lao, the former officer-in-charge of the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (PS-DBM), faced the Senate blue ribbon committee anew on Thursday, this time for the investigation on the reported overpriced and outdated laptops procured by the Department of Education (DepEd).

Lao attended the panel's first hearing on DepEd’s laptop procurement through video conference.

During the hearing, committee chairman Sen. Francis Tolentino informed the panel that Lao sent his office a letter asking for a clearance that he is no longer facing any contempt charges. He said Lao also sought his removal from the immigration lookout bulletin.

This request, however, will be decided upon the approval of the panel’s majority, Tolentino said.

Blue ribbon committee vice-chairperson Alan Peter Cayetano then asked the secretariat to scan the Commission on Audit’s letter to the PS-DBM and distribute the copies to the members of the panel before deciding on Lao’s request.

In September 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an immigration lookout bulletin order for Lao and seven other individuals amid the then-ongoing Senate probe into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of pandemic-related supplies by the Department of Health, which was also made through PS-DBM.

During Thursday's hearing, Lao asked the committee to allow him to leave early, saying he was no longer the PS-DBM executive director when the DepEd laptops were procured.

However, Tolentino said there were documents related to the laptop procurement that were signed during his time as head of the PS-DBM.

This is the first time Lao appeared in public since he skipped several hearings of the Senate blue ribbon committee during the 18th Congress regarding the DOH's procurement of pandemic-related supplies.

In its annual audit report on the DepEd for 2021, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the DepEd's purchase of laptops for teachers to implement distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COA said that the purchase of the more expensive laptops than the ones specified resulted in the procurement of fewer units, depriving over 28,000 teachers of the benefit. —KBK, GMA News