DepEd Usec. Trygve Olaivar resigns from post

Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar has formally resigned from his post, the agency's media office said.

In a brief statement, Dennis E. Legaspi, chief media relations officer of the DepEd, told reporters: “We confirm that Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar has formally submitted his resignation to the Palace.”

No details were provided regarding the reason for Olaivar’s resignation.

The DepEd has yet to announce who will take over his responsibilities. 

In September, Olaivar denied allegations linking him to the flood control project controversy and said he will take a voluntary leave of absence to allow a fair investigation into the matter.

Olaivar’s name surfaced during the continuation of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s probe into alleged ghost and substandard flood control projects worth billions of pesos, a scandal that has implicated several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

During a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing in September, former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo said that in 2024, Olaivar called him to discuss unprogrammed appropriations, allegedly for the Office of the Executive Secretary. He said Olaivar requested him to submit a list of projects.

Upon Bernardo's order, then DPWH Bulacan 1st District district engineer Henry Alcantara submitted a list of projects worth P2.85 billion. Bernardo said he then submitted the list to Olaivar, who told him that the commitment is 15%.

“Thereafter, the DPWH received a Special Allotment Release Order for PhP2.85 billion for the projects,” Bernardo said.

“Engineer Alcantara from time to time would collect and deliver the agreed 15% commitment to me which I delivered or cause to be delivered to Usec. Olaivar in Magallanes, Makati, and other places,” he added.

“Earlier today, DPWH Usec. (Roberto) Bernardo mentioned my name in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. I deny the allegations made and want to state clearly that I welcome any investigation regarding this matter,” Olaivar said in a statement last Sept. 25.

Last Friday, at another Senate blue ribbon committee hearing, Bernardo said he had known Olaivar as early as 2010 when he was still a staff of Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. He said Olaivar also worked under the office of the late senator Edgardo Angara and later then senator Sonny Angara.

Bernardo recalled several dealings with Olaivar including the latter allegedly receiving deliveries representing 12% of the projects of Angara while he was the Senate Finance chairperson.

Angara denied Bernardo's accusations.

"We reject any insinuation made today that we were involved in anomalous projects. In my 21 years in government we have never been involved in corruption," the DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement. —KG, GMA Integrated News