Ombudsman suspension of DepEd laptop mess 'whistleblower' worries Tolentino

Senator Francis Tolentino expressed concern over the inclusion of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s “whistleblower” in the list of suspended Department of Education (DepEd) officials by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“May worry ako kasi doon sa nilabas ng Ombudsman, na katungkulan nila, maging ‘yung aming whistleblower e kasama na rin sa kinasuhan,” Tolentino said in a press conference Thursday.

While he did not mention the name of the person he was referring to, it can be recalled that Tolentino, as chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon panel, offered witness protection to Atty. Marcelo Bragado Jr., the director of the DepEd's Procurement Management Service.

“Although binigyan namin ng legislative immunity puwedeng maka-discourage pero nagpapakita ito na yung pangil ng Ombudsman ay matalim, mabagsik, at uulitin ko sang-ayon sa kanilang mandato sa saligang batas,” he said.

“Ang kinakabahan ko rito dahil nag assume sila ng jurisdiction…  Puwede nilang dagdagan kahit hindi sang'-ayon doon sa Blue Ribbon Committee Report kung sino pa ang gusto nilang kasuhan. Iyon ang mandato ng Ombudsman,” Tolentino added.

In an 11-page resolution, Ombudsman Samuel Martires said his office found sufficient grounds to preventively suspend several DepEd and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officials for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and gross neglect of duty.

Among those suspended were former DBM undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao and DepEd Undersecretaries Annalyn Sevilla and Alain del Pascua.

Tolentino earlier said that the basis for the Ombudsman's order was the blue ribbon report which was released earlier this year and was eventually adopted by the Senate.

The said report recommended graft and perjury charges against former and current officials of DepEd and the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM).

The anti-graft body also cited the Commission on Audit's findings wherein it could not ascertain the DBM's basis for adopting the P58,300 unit price per laptop in its recommended Approved Budget of Contract,  an amount accepted by the DepEd.

In addition, COA also noted that the 68,500 laptops supposed to be procured was significantly reduced to 39,583 due to the huge increase in estimated cost from P35,046.50 based on DepEd's submission of Agency Procurement Request.—LDF, GMA Integrated News